THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is not the Tagore Theatre or the sprawling Kanakakkunnu Palace grounds or even the picturesque banks of Aakkulam lake far away from the city centre. The piece of real estate for the IFFK Complex has been identified right in the heart of the city in Kowdiar, in the heritage zone adjoining the majestic Kowdiar palace.
“We have no plans to sully the popular nature of IFFK in any way by taking it out of the capital city,” said filmmaker Kamal, the new chairman of Kerala State Chalachithra Academy. “We have found three acres of picturesque land in Kowdiar, near the palace. The land is under the revenue department and we have begun steps to get the land transferred,” Kamal said during his first press conference as Academy chairman on Monday. The state budget has earmarked Rs 50 crore for the complex.
Kamal said that the IFFK Complex was being planned in such a way that it could be self-sufficient and depend less on government largesse. The plan is to convert the Complex into a cultural hub, with a multiplex and a space for other cultural and artistic activities. “But it will not be feasible to shut down the screens after the IFFK and the short film festival. We will keep the multiplex open for films so that the complex could generate its own revenues,” Kamal said.
The Academy chairman said that the complex should at least have food courts to make the place more attractive. He said a full-fledged mall would be a hindrance especially during the festival season. He said that the multiplex would be constructed in such a manner that it could absorb the huge IFFK attendance; 6000-7000 delegates attend the festival annually.
“IFFK is the second-most attended festival in Asia. The construction of the complex will definitely factor that in,” the filmmaker said. Being a heritage zone, the complex cannot be more than two-storeys high. Parking will be underground. Kamal wants the complex ready by at least three years.
Kudumbashree to promote films
Kudumbashree will be employed in a big way to popularise film culture in villages. This was announced by the new Chalachithra Academy chairman, filmmaker Kamal, here on Monday. “One of the briefs I was given by culture minister A.K. Balan was that films should be taken to the villages in a big way,” Kamal said.
It is felt that Kudumbashree, with its amazing reach among rural women, could give film education a big fillip in rural areas. If successful, this could even work parallel to the film society movement. “Film societies are still very active in our state,” Kamal said.
“However, these societies are made up of a constant set of people with a high level of cinema intelligence. It is virtually impossible for the common man, especially rural working men and women, to break into this high-brow society movement,” Kamal said. It is here that Kudumbashree units, with its vast women network, come into play.
“We can use their participation to organise mass screenings of Indian and foreign classics in villages, that too with Malayalam subtitles. Better still, the concept of film education can be given a wider reach. Along with women, children too could be made part of a new kind of cinema movement,” Kamal said.
