Thiruvananthapuram: The projector at Tagore Theatre gave in, almost at the beginning of a film in the international competition category of IFFK. The Bed was scheduled to start at 2:15 pm at Tagore Theatre and it did, only to be stopped ten minutes into the screening, according to delegates. “We waited for the show to resume. Then there was an announcement regarding some technical issue. They also announced that all shows until 8 pm was cancelled,” says Ajish G, a student from Thiruvananthapuram.
Sources say that there was a short circuit in the main projector. Later, another film in international competition category titled Night Accident was screened at Tago-re at 6 pm as per schedule. A projector of a lower resolution owned by Kerala State Chalachitra Academy was used. However, delegates received a message later in the evening that the 8 pm show at Tagore Theatre was cancelled due to technical reasons. Officials say that there will be one more screening for The Bed, and the date and time will be announced later. Its director Mónica Lairana, just before the first scheduled screening, had told the audience how excited she was to be at IFFK.
There were other glitches at IFFK. Harry Harris, a Thiruvananthapuram resident, said, “The operator at New Theatre switched on every light, in the middle of Knife+Heart on Friday. It was a 120-minute film. But at the end of 80 minutes when this happened, many people thought that the movie had ended. Many including filmmaker Jayan Cherian have complained about this.”
There were issues with reservation as well. People who had reserved their seats were told that their reservation was not valid as they had not arr-ived 15 minutes before the film. Academician J Devika has written an article online bidding farewell to IFFK, after she was told this, even though she arrived befo-re the film’s screening.
