THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Culture minister A.K. Balan said that the state government would stand in for Chalachithra Academy in the High Court and implead in the case related to the ban on screening of three films at IDSFFK. "When the case came up for hearing in the High Court, a technicality was raised saying that the Chalachithra Academy had not impleaded in the case," the minister said while delivering the presidential address during the inaugural of the 10th International Documentary and Film Festival of Kerala.
"To overcome this technical hurdle the government has decided to implead in the case," he added. The makers of the three films had gone to the High Court against the diktat of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry prohibiting their screening at IDSFFK. The three films - The unbearable Being of Lightness, In the Shade of Fallen Chinar, and March March March - deal with the three most contentious issues under Narendra Modi's rule: suicide of Rohith Vemula, the unrest of students in Kashmir, and the uprising in the JNU camps.
"Fascist tendencies that suppress dissent are on the rise," the minister said. It is not anti-national to make films about problems in the country," he added. The IDSFFK began with the screening of American documentary Life, animated, Roger Ross Willams's Sundance winner, and Bengali short film Sakhisona, which won the best film at the Rotterdam fest. During the five-day fest 210 films will be showcased in various sections in three government-run theatres: Kairali, Sree and Nila. The competition category, which includes animation, campus film, long documentary, short documentary and short fiction, has 77 films.
Five films of noted German film maker Wim Wenders will be screened in the Maestro section. In the 'Filmmaker in Focus' section, the works of Palestinian Mai Masri and Malayali Vipin Vijay will be screened. I DSFFK will screen a film each of screenwriter, novelist and poet John Berger and documentary maker and film activist Chalam Bennurkar, both of whom had passed away this year. There will also be a special screening of a documentary based on the career and life of Malayalam filmmaker K. G. George. There will be 'master classes' by cinematographer Ranjan Palit and Australian film maker Andrew Vial are also part of the schedule.
