CM Pinarayi Slams Centre’s Censorship on Films at IFFK
Every film denied permission will be screened at the festival,” he said in a Facebook post.
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced on Tuesday that all films denied permission for screening at the 30th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) will still be shown at the event.
He criticised the Union Government’s decision, calling it unacceptable and a sign of the Sangh Parivar regime’s totalitarian approach, which stifles diverse voices and creative expression in the country. “Enlightened Kerala will not bow to such censorship. Every film denied permission will be screened at the festival,” he said in a Facebook post.
The films to be screened without censorship exemption are A Poet: Unconcealed Poetry, All That's Left of You, Bamako, Battleship Potemkin, Clash, Palestine 36, Red Rain, Riverstone, The Hour of the Furnaces, Tunnels: Sun in the Dark, Yes, Flames, Timbuktu, Wajib, and Santosh. This is the first time in the history of IFFK that the central government has insisted on Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) approval for screening these films at the festival.
Under Indian law, films without certification from the CBFC require special exemption from the I&B Ministry to be screened at a film festival. The Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, which organizes the IFFK, has stated that no specific reasons were given for the denial of exemption certificates.
