Adoor Moutatthu Gopalakrishnan Unnithan is an internationally-known Indian film director. His films are made in the Malayalam language. Most of his films have been widely acclaimed in India and abroad, and have won many national and international awards. He studied screenwriting and Film Direction from the Pune Film Institute. After completing the course, he along with a few of his classmates and friends, established Chithralekha Film Society and Chalachithra Sahakarana Sangham. The organization was the first film society in Kerala, and it aimed at production, distribution and exhibition of films in the co-operative sector. Adoor's debut film the national award winning "Swayamvaram" (1972) was a milestone in Malayalam film history. The film was exhibited widely in various international film festivals including those held in Moscow, Melbourne, London and Paris. The films that followed, namely "Kodiyettam", "Elippathayam", "Mukhamukham", "Anantharam", "Mathilukal", "Vidheyan" and "Kodiyettam" lived up to the reputation of his first film, and were well-received by critics at various film festivals and fetched him many awards. Adoor's later films are "Nizhalkuthu", narrating the experiences of an executioner who comes to know that one of his subjects was innocent, and Naalu Pennungal, a film adaptation of four short stories by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai.