The Academy · Est. 2007
A college the size of one classroom.
Thirty students · One campus · Nineteen years
Creative Hut Academy is a fully residential photography, cinematography and AI filmmaking college in Mattakkara, Kottayam, Kerala, founded in 2007 by Abin Alex. Thirty students a year live and learn alongside mentors who live on the same campus. Every student leaves with a professional portfolio, film credits, and a place in a 520+ alumni network.
2007
Founded
30
Students a batch
15+
States
520+
Alumni
550+
Portfolios
40+
Awards
The name
Same campus. Same founder. New slate.
Formerly
Creative Hut Institute of Photography and Film
Now
Creative Hut Academy
Founded
2007, by Abin Alex
Location
Mattakkara, Kottayam, Kerala
The name changed because the work did. Photography, cinematography and AI filmmaking now sit under one roof, and Institute of Photography had stopped describing what happens here. The founder, the campus, the mentors and the Gurukul are unchanged.
The story
Nineteen years, in order.
2007
It begins in Ahmedabad
Founded under Creative Hut Education Pvt. Ltd., supported by the National Education and Research Foundation.
2013
The campus moves to Kerala
1,70,000 square feet in Mattakkara, Kottayam. A river on one side, hills on the other.
2013
The mentors move in
The first fully residential batch. Faculty live on campus with the students. The Gurukul becomes real.
2014
The world's first photography Gurukul
Recorded by Asian World Records, Champions Book of World Records and Supreme World Records.
2017
Recognised and certified
KGTE from the Department of Technical Education Kerala, NCVET under Skill India, and Adobe.
2026
Rising Embers releases
The world's first AI feature film made inside a film school. Twenty students in the crew, every one of them credited.
2027
The 21st batch begins
Twenty batches have already walked out of this gate. Thirty seats in the next one. Applications open 29 July 2026.
What we hold to
Four things this college will not trade.
Teach the person, not the tool.
Every tool on this campus will be obsolete in five years. Judgement will not. We build the hand that decides what the instrument should do.
Know the GurukulThirty students. On purpose.
A mentor cannot know a hundred faces. Thirty a year is not a limit we regret, it is the reason the model works.
Know the GurukulMake real films, not exercises.
Rising Embers did not go into a folder. It went to release. Every batch makes the next one.
Watch the filmThe year ends with a job.
100% placement support, and a 520+ alumni network that hires its own. A certificate is not an outcome.
See placementsWho runs it
Two mentors. They live here too.
Founder and Director
Abin Alex
Founded Creative Hut in 2007 and has taught for twenty five years. Director of Rising Embers, the world's first AI feature film made inside a film school. He built the residential Gurukul model, and lives on campus with the students who learn it.
M.Des
MBA Design Management
M.Sc Visual Communication
Honorary Doctorate, Photography
Canon Photo Mentor, 8 years
Associate Director
Anu Joseph
Sixteen years in visual media education, with a foundation in science, design and communication. She teaches students to bridge logic and creativity, so the work is structured as well as inspired. Associate Director on Rising Embers, guiding students through a full feature production. Beyond tools and technique, she builds discipline, empathy and professionalism.
B.Sc PCM
M.Des
M.A Journalism and Mass Communication
16 years teaching
Alongside them, working photographers, cinematographers and filmmakers teach on campus as visiting faculty, in wildlife, fashion, architecture, automotive, newborn and sound. Meet the faculty
Certifications and recognition
What stands behind the diploma.
KGTE
Kerala Government Technical Examination, Department of Technical Education.
Recognised
NCVET
Media and Entertainment Skills Council, under Skill India.
Recognised
Adobe
Adobe qualified credential in creative software.
Certified
Skill India
Aligned with the national skill development mission.
Aligned
College Diploma
PDAP and PDAC, awarded by Creative Hut Academy.
Awarded
The world's first photography Gurukul.
Not a claim we made about ourselves. A record, held and verified.
Asian World Records
Champions Book of World Records
Supreme World Records
Our imaging partner
Powered by Sony
Supported by · National Education and Research Foundation · Creative Hut Education Pvt. Ltd. · Alextern Education Pvt. Ltd.
What this campus has made
The students did not study a feature film. They made one.
In July 2026, twenty of our students released Rising Embers, the world's first AI feature film made inside a film school. Directed by Abin Alex, with Anu Joseph as Associate Director. An eight track album in English and Malayalam went out on twenty three streaming platforms. Every student on that crew carries a screen credit for the rest of their career.
Behind the filmWhere they went
The proof is not on this page. It is in their credits.
Best Non-Fiction Documentary
Attappadiyan
Best Cinematographer
Mazhathorum Moombe
Official Selection
Changaram Wetlands
520+
Alumni
300+
Placements
150+
Studios and freelancers
100%
Placement support
The place
Everything is inside the gate.
1,70,000 square feet in Mattakkara, Kottayam. A river on one side, hills on the other. Studios, a tech lab, a film studio, a recording studio, hostels for boys and girls, and the mentors' own home, all within a two minute walk of each other. That is not a campus tour detail. It is the reason a shoot can start at five in the morning and finish in the edit bay at midnight.
Questions
About the college.
Admissions 2027
Thirty seats. One year.
Applications for the 2027 residential batch open on 29 July 2026. Seats are first come, first served.