Thiruvananthapuram: Sanal Kumar Sasidharan to organise parallel film festival.

Thiruvananthapuram: It is beginning on the same day as the IFFK, December 8. KIFF, they call it, Kazhcha Indie Film Festival. The man behind the fest is director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, secretary of Kazhcha Film Society, who had taken his much-discussed film S Durga away from the IFFK. He had felt it was put in a lesser category than it deserved.

At a press meet in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday, minister A.K. Balan said that they had taken Sanal’s concern into account and considered screening his film in a different category. But then the censor certificate was revoked and they would be unable to screen it. They would consider the film again for the fest if the censor issue is resolved, Mr Balan said.

While fighting for his film, Sanal also went ahead with his plan for a parallel film festival that became KIFF. “It is a highly distressing fact for us that both Kerala Chalachitra Akademi and the IFFK which was instituted to promote such avant-garde movies from Kerala now seem to have moved away from its original aim. KIFF was, hence conceived as a corrective measure against such a ‘rejectionary’ attitude adopted by the Akademi and IFFK in promoting this parallel cinema movement,” it is stated on the KIFF website.

The festival will be inaugurated by Anand Gandhi, director of Ship of Thesus on December 8, 10 am, at Lenin Balavadi, Vazhuthacaud. Delegate passes will be available at the venue for Rs100. A total of 14 films and four documentaries will be screened. The opening film is Shanavas Naranippuzha’s much acclaimed film Karie. Closing film is Geetu Mohandas's Liar's Dice, which is also part of the IFFK. Filmmakers expected to attend the fest include Geetu, Bobby Sharma Baruah, Shanavas, Miransha Naik, Ektara collective, Urmila Mahanta among others.

There will also be an open forum for film lovers called BRIDGE every night from 9 pm to midnight, discussions over black tea. There will also be several seminars and panel discussions. The fest is also putting together a mobile cinema contest — a 24 hour short film competition. The selected films will be screened at the festival, which ends on December 11.