It begins with The Insult. The first evening of the 22nd International Film Festival of Kerala, when after the opening ceremony and the introductions, the stage will turn dark and a screen will pop up in the familiar open grounds of Kanakakkunnu Palace, The Insult, a Lebanese-French drama film by Ziad Doueiri will be screened. There will also be a performance by actor and performer Trevor Jamieson on the opening day. Setting the stage for eight days of the December fest the whole state and film lovers from across the borders look forward to – IFFK begins on December 8.
Alexander Sokurov
“Many wonderful people are coming and we hope everyone likes it. One big name that we could bring this time is Alexander Sokurov,” says Bina Paul, artistic director and vice-chairman of Chalachitra Academy. “It is not difficult to convince people if they are available,” she says. Sokurov, renowned filmmaker from Russia, who made the famous Russian Ark, a film taken in a single 96-minute shot, will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award. His earlier features were banned by Soviet authorities.
During those years he had made quite a few documentaries. At the fest, Sokurov’s films such as Mother and Son, Father and Son, and Faust among others, would be screened. Another retrospective is for veteran filmmaker K.P. Kumaran.
There are 190 films from 65 countries at the IFFK this year. Shortlisting 35 films – the maximum a delegate could watch if he/she goes for all five screenings every day of the fest – would as always be a tough deal. “In the world cinema category, there is the Sokurov package of course. Then there are films by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun from Chad and Michel Franco from Mexico, in the contemporary filmmaker in focus category. There is also The Young Karl Marx released this year,” says Shaji H., deputy director of the festival.There is also an animation package for the first time, Shaji says. Contemporary Japanese animation films will be screened. “We have had films like Persepolis before but this is the first time there is a package,” he says. The country in focus this time is Brazil, with six films from recent years including Kill me, please and White out, Black in.
Another category to watch out for, Shaji says, is ‘Uprooted’ – films on identity and space. Among these films is also Geetu Mohandas’s Liar’s Dice. Films depicting the topic of migration from different perspectives. In world cinema, there will also be 120 BPM, the film that won the Golden Peacock at IFFI. And A Man of Integrity by Mohammad Rasoulof. Eighty-six-year old Hungarian filmmaker Márta Mészáros’s new work Aurora Borealis – Északi Fény will also be screened.
Russian Ark
Blade of the Immortal, a Japanese film of vengeance, based on the manga series by Hiroaki Samura, will be there. Other movies to look out for are Djam by Tony Gatlif, Felicite by Alain Gomiz, Grandmaster by Wong Kar-wai, I am not a witch by Rungano Nyoni, Let the sunshine in by Claire Denis, Loveless by Andrey Zvyagintsev, Mother! by Darren Aronofsky and In Syria/ Insyriated by Philippe Van Leeuw, among others.
There will also be a category ‘Avalkoppam’ (With her) featuring Malayalam films with strong women characters directed by men. “The basic expectation of going to a film festival is widening your horizon, and letting your thoughts grow larger,” says Aryan P. Nair, a young film enthusiast who has worked in short films as an actor and scriptwriter. “We have good stories but our canvases are often small. At a film festival, we want to open our minds, make contacts, meet people with similar dreams.” He has worked on a short film with a person he met at the IFFK before.
Still from The Young Karl Marx.
Four more days to go and it’s been relatively quiet so far. There was a bit of news when Sanal Kumar Sasidharan withdrew his film S Durga from the fest when he felt it was chosen in a lesser category than it deserved to be in. But then the usual bunch of controversies that come during every fest – last year’s national anthem row, attack on chairman Kamal, to name a few – may hopefully take a backseat and the fest would be full of peace and camaraderie.
