Anucha first transgender to win at International Film Festival of Kerala

THIRUVANANTHPAURAM:  Thai filmmaker Anucha Boonyawatana became the first transgender person to win a major award at the IFFK. Boonyawatana secured the Rajatha Chakoram for the best director for her work Malila (The Farewell Flower). The jury headed by veteran film academic Marco Mueller  was impressed by the seamless way in which the director merged the physical and metaphysical quest of her characters, producing a film at once powerfully sensuous, yet also deeply meditative. “It was amazing to see a full house at the screening of my film. I will carry that image to the end of my life,” Boonyawatana said. 

The Suvarna Chakoram carries a cash prize of Rs 15 lakh, and Rajatha Chakoram, Rs 4 lakh. Rayhana’s Turkish movie I Still Hide to Smoke, which shows the charming sisterhood of women in a ‘hammam’ or Turkish bath, won the audience prize for the most popular competition film. Sanju Surendran, who won the Rajatha Chakoram for the best debut director for his film Aeden: The Garden of Desire, was the Malayalam presence at the international awards category. Surendran’s was the only prize among the top three that was chosen unanimously. Surendran also won the FIPRESCI award for the best Malayalam film.

The special mention to the Columbian film Candelaria, directed by Johnny Hendrix, was also chosen unanimously. The jury gushed about the film’s “loving celebration of resilient third age in a time of crisis.” Dileesh Pothen’s blockbuster Thondimuthalum Drisksakshiyum had won the NETPAC award for the best Malayalam film. The hugely popular and critically acclaimed Newton, directed by Amit V Masurkar, won the FIPRESCI award for the best film in the International Competition, and also the NETPAC award for the best Asian film of the festival.

Fest complex in 3 years

The 25th IFFK will be held at the festival complex that will come up at the Film City planned at the sprawling Chithranjali Studio premises. This was announced by minster for culture A.K. Balan at the closing ceremony of the 22nd IFFK at Nishagandhi auditorium here on Friday. “The construction of the complex will begin in April 2018,” the minister said. The festival complex will have an open theatre with a capacity of 2000, a convention centre with a capacity of 2500, film screening theatres, seminar halls, and preview rooms. The office of Chalachithra Academy, too, will be shifted to the new complex.

The complex will come up in the 10 acres within the Film City planned within the Chitranjali studio premises. Mr Balan said that the Archives-cum-Digital Library of the Academy would be ready at the Kinfra Film and Video Park, Kazhakuttam, within a year. This is not all. Finance minister Dr Thomas Isaac said that 100 new theatres would be constructed across the state in three years. “The major objective of such a move is to offer parallel cinema, which is finding it difficult to get screens, a wide pubic release,” the finance minister said. “At a time when filmmaking has become highly democratised, a proliferation of public theatres will further democratise the cultural process,” he added.

“The state is planning a total investment of Rs 1000 crore for the development of cinema in the state,” the finance minister said. He said that the emphasis on cultural activities was a departure from the usual planning process. “Normally, culture is given the short shrift, earmarked a minuscule amount. We have changed this by allocating substantially to culture,” Dr Isaac said.