| International Film Festival of Kerala | |
|---|---|
| Location | Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India |
| Hosted by | Kerala State Chalachitra Academy |
| Festival date | November/December |
| Language | International |
| Official website | |
The International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), the capital city of Kerala, India. This film festival was started in 1996 and is hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy on behalf of Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala. The festival is held in November/December every year and is acknowledged as one of the leading such events in India.[1] Several national and international films have their premiers at the IFFK each year. In 2005, 14 films including the Oscar-nominated Water, directed by Deepa Mehta were screened for the first time in India at the IFFK and this is attributed to the well-informed, serious-minded audience that the festival boasts of.[2] Competition section is limited to 14 selected films produced in Asia, Africa or Latin America.[3] The festival also has a section devoted to Malayalam cinema. In lines of IFFK, the Chalachitra Academy also organises the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala.
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The Directorate of Film Festivals, Govt of India held the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) at Thiruvananthapuram in 1988.[4] The festival ushered in interest in serious films and subsequently several film societies were born throughout the state. The activities of the societies included screening of classic films from around the world, conducting group discussions on various aspects of cinema and circulating pamphlets on renowned film-makers. The film societies obtained copies of films from archives and from embassies of some countries as a part of culture-exchange programmes. The film society movement helped to raise film literacy among people and the need for an international film festival to the level of the IFFI came up. The first edition of the IFFK was held in Kozhikode in 1996. Incidentally, the festival was held in the 100th year of cinema and 100 films were screened as a part of the event.[4] The event was managed by the Kerala State Film Development Corporation (KSFDC) till 1998 when the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy was formed and was bestowed with the responsibility of conducting IFFK along with other activities for promotion of cinema. Later, the FIAPF accredited the festival and a competition section was added to the event in 1999. The competition is limited to films produced in Asia, Africa or Latin America. The 'FIPRESCI (Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique) and the Netpac (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) have also recognised the festival.[4]
Contemporary World Cinema, New Malayalam Cinema, Retrospectives of Major filmmakers, Homage and Tributes, Contemporary Indian Cinema, Short films and Documentaries are screened during this film festival. Film Market and Seminars on important issues concerning Cinema are being scheduled in the festival. The festival is now permanently held at various cinema halls in Thiruvananthapuram. The festival is always noted for its public support.[5] The festival is perhaps the only one to have screenings for residents of a jail, a juvenile home(Poojappura Central Jail, Thiruvananthapuram) and a poor home (Sri Chitra Poor Home).[6]
The 16th edition International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK 2011) was held at Thiruvananthapuram from 9 to 16 December 2011. It was inaugurated by Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy with veteran actress Jaya Bachchan as the chief guest.[7] The inaugural film was Under the Hawthron Tree, directed by Chinese film-maker Zhang Yimou. Noted director Priyadarshan was the jury chairman.
The 15 th edition International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK 2010) was held at Thiruvananthapuram from 10 to 17 December 2010. It was inaugurated by the then Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan with veteran Indian actress Waheeda Rahman as the chief guest. Werner Herzog, the German filmmaker, was conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award in the inaugural ceremony. A jury headed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan chose him for the award.[8] The opening film was Please Do Not Disturb.[9] Around 8000 delegates which included film makers, artists and film buffs from all over India and abroad participated in the 8 day long festival.
The Golden Crown Pheasant Award was bagged by the Colombian film "Portraits in a Sea of Lies", directed by Carlos Gaviria, while the Silver Crow Pheasant Award for the best director was awarded to Argentinian director Julia Solomonoff for her film "The Last Summer of La Boyita". The Silver Crow Pheasant Award for the best debut film went to Belma Bas, the Turkish director of the movie Zephyr.
Members of the jury included Julie Dash, Mexican filmmaker Maria Novaro, Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Japanese filmmaker Yashuhiro Hariki and Indian screenplay writer and photographer Sooni Taraporevala.
The Network for Promotion of Asian Film Centre (NETPAC) award for the best Asian film was won by an Indian film "I Am—Afiya Megha Abhimanyu Omar", directed by Onir Anirban.
Veettilekkulla Vazhi (The Way Home), directed by Dr. Biju, was adjudged the best Malayalam film at the festival. The Tunisian film Buried Secrets, directed by Raja Amari, won the award instituted by the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) for the best film in the competition while the award in the Malayalam category went to Makaramanju, directed by Lenin Rajendran.
The Hassankutty Award for the best Indian Debut Film, instituted by filmmaker Meera Nair, was bagged by Chithra Suthram directed by Vipin Vijay.[10]
The festival had retrospective section of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and showed films of Werner Herzog, Olivier Assayas, Mario Novaro and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. A total of 207 films from 83 countries were screened in this 15th edition giving prominence to the films from Asia, Latin America and Africa.[11]
There were various film discussion sessions with Werner Herzog, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Julie Dash, Maria Novaro, Juliane Lorenz and many prominent Indian filmmakers. Mani Ratnam, notable Indian filmmaker, was the chief guest of the closing ceremony.[12]
The 14th edition of IFFK was be held from 11–18 December 2009. The Jury of the competition section consisted of Chairperson Bahman Ghobadi (Iran), Balufu Bakupa Kanyinda (Congo), Prassanna Vithnarage (Sri Lanka), Mamta Shankar (India) and Hala Khalili (Egypt).
The winners of the competition section were:[13]
The 13th International Film Festival of Kerala was held from 12–19 December 2008.[14] The festival was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Kerala, V. S. Achutanandan. Argentinean filmmaker Fernando Birri and veteran actor K.R. Vijaya were the chief guests. The opening film of the festival was Laila's Birthday, by Palestinian director Rashid Masharawi. The eight-day long festival had 182 films from 53 countries. 14 films, including two Malayalam films, were in the competition section.[15] Lucia Murat (Brazil) headed the jury, which also consisted of Samira Makhmalbaf (Iran), Sitora Alieva (Russia), Allain Jalladeau (France) and Jabbar Patel (India). The juries representing Fipresci (International Federation of Film Critics)were Chris Fujiwara, Barbara Lorey and Manoj Barjpujari. The NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) nominated juries were Sudhir Mishra, Freddie Wong and Max Tesseir.[16]
The winners in the competition section were[17]:
The IFFK 2007, the 12th edition of the festival was held from 7–14 December. The festival was inaugurated on 6 December by actor Kamal Haasan in the presence of Miguel Littin, Chilean director who was the chief guest, M. A. Baby, Minister for Cultural Affairs, Govt. of Kerala, actors Naseeruddin Shah and Mohanlal. Twelve celebrities who contributed to the growth of Malayalam cinema were honoured at the function. They are producers M.O. Joseph, K.N. Ravindranathan Nair, R.S. Prabhu, the former Film Archives director P.K. Nair, music directors, M.S. Viswanathan and M.K. Arjunan, playback singer S. Janaki, art director S. Konnanad, actors KPAC Lalitha, K. R. Vijaya, T.R. Omana, Santhadevi and makeup man Velappan. 231 films from 54 countries were screened at eight cinema halls in Thiruvananthapuram, namely Ajanta, New Theatre, Kalabhavan, Kairali, Sree, Kripa, Dhanya and Remya theatres.[18]
14 films were selected for the competition section which was limited to films produced or co-produced in Asia, Africa & Latin America between September 2006 & August 2007.[19] The jury consisted of Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, African actor and director Naky Sy Savene, Polish scenarist Agnieska Holland, actor and producer Naseeruddin Shah and Cuban Film Academy director Rigoberto Lopez. Journalist Sheila Johnston heads the Fipresci jury which consisted of Turkish critic Cüneyt Cebenoyan and documentary filmmaker Varala Anand.[18]
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