THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As the curtains were rung down on the 20th International Film Festival of Kerala, it moved one step closer to becoming a Unesco-sponsored festival, making it a platform for the best of Afro-Asian-Latin American films.
IFFK director Shaji N Karun told DC that already IFFK directorate was in correspondence with Unesco director-general Irina Bokova, courtesy Dr Shashi Tharoor, MP, who had known her from her days in the UN. A Unesco team is expected soon to assess facilities and professionalism that marked 20th IFFK.
The Unesco tag will help position IFFK as a major international film festival of the developing world by 2020. The Afro-Asian-Latin American cultural narratives are already the toast of international festivals as against those in Europe, said Shaji Karun.
What is in store is greater collaboration among festival directorates of Dubai, Singapore and IFFK. A delegation from the Dubai film festival will call on Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Cinema Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan soon after the festival concludes on December 14.
The Dubai-Singapore-Thiruvananthapuram circuit offers mutual advantages in the selection of films and getting on board internationally-acclaimed programmers, who are able to buy the latest films at modest rates because of their exposure to the market.
Besides contributing to the repertoire, 20th IFFK programmers Susana Santos Rodriguez, the selection committee head at Festival do Rio, and Ms Martin Armand, selector of Indian films for festivals in Europe and assistant director of Satyajit ray, helped add another 50 films to IFFK this time, albeit at an extra Rs 10 lakh.
They managed to get films for 700 Euros against 1,200 Euros quoted in overseas market because of their involvement in other international festivals.
Shaji Karun said the 20th IFFK owed its success to 8,000 seats at 14 theatres and sufficient visual indications on the website about films, categorizing them easy- first timers, women, 3 D, true story- for the film buff’s choice. Any future team would be able to build on the current infrastructure, said Shaji Karun.
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