Kerala, in the southwest corner of India, is a truly magical place that contains majestic mountains, lush backwaters, golden rice paddies, towering coconut palms and a gorgeous coastline in what is India’s most cine-literate and culturally discerning state. Therefore, the yearly International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), which is currently running in the city of Trivandrum through December 19, is a much anticipated film event that brings together filmmakers and appreciative audiences. The event organised by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, a professional training institution, on behalf of the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala. Led by the triumvirate of Festival Director Sri.K.R.Mohanan, Executive Director Dr.K.S.Sreekumar and Artistic Director Bina Paul Venugopal, the Festival brings together outstanding examples of local and international cinema.  

IFFK’s main Competition section is composed of films produced or co-produced in Asia, Africa and Latin America, making it unique among Indian film festivals. In addition to the main competition slate, the Festival presents a diverse program of dramatic features, documentaries, short fiction, retrospectives and selected tributes. It is also a base for exploring and celebrating local Indian and Malayalam cinema (the region’s native language and celebrated art form).

The diverse slate of films from Asia, Africa and Latin American in the main competition section include: A Day In Orange” (Alexandra Szeplaki, Venezuela); Animal Town (Jeon Kyuhwan/South Korea|USA); Buried Secrets (Raja Amari, /Tunisia|Switzerland|France); Heliopolis (Ahmad Abdalla, Egypt); I Am Afiya Megha Abhimanyu Omar (Onir, India); Optical Illusions (Christian Jimenez, Chile|France|Portugal); Palerimanikyam (Ranjith, India); Portraits In A Sea of Lies (Carlos Gaviria, Colombia); T. D. Dasan Std. 6 B ( Mohan Raghavan, India); The Japanese Wife (Aparna Sen, Japan/India); The Last Summer of La Boyita (Julia Solomonoff, Argentina|Spain|Germany); Wine (Diego Fried, Argentina); Walking On The Rail (Babak Shirinsefat, Iran);  and Zephyr (Belma Bas, Turkey).

The Indian Cinema Now section features seven films in a mix of Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, and English. The Malayalam Cinema Today strand, drawn from local filmmakers, represents seven interesting new talents from India’s fourth largest filmmaking center (after Bollywood, Bengal and Tamil Nadu). The Festival provides a rare showcase for Indian talents to reach local audiences and also to network with visiting professionals and filmmaker guests in an atmosphere that is renowned for its hospitality.

The Festival is also hosting an impressive list of international titles out of competition that will likely be the only places in the entire country where the films will be seen. They include such celebrated films as PRECIOUS (Lee Daniels, USA); ANOTHER YEAR (Mike Leigh); SOMEWHERE (Sofia Coppola, USA); IN A BETTER WORLD (Suzanne Bier, Denmark/Sweden); THE HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER (Eran Riklis, Israel/Germany/France); SUBMARINO (Thomas Vinterberg, Denmark/Sweden); THE PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER (Bertrand Tavernier, France/Germany); WHEN WE LEAVE (Feo Aladag, Germany); OUTRAGE (Takeshi Kitano, Japan); NORTHLESS (Rigoberto Perezcano, Mexico); THE LIGHT THIEF (Aktan Arym Kubat, Kyrgyzstan|Germany|France|Netherlands); HOW I ENDED THIS SUMMER (Alexei Popogrebsky, Russia); THE HOUSE OF BRANCHING LOVE (Mika Kaurismaki, Finland) and ROUTE IRISH (Ken Loach, UK).

The Festival is also presenting impressive career retrospectives of influential German auteur Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Spanish film master Carlos Saura and IFFK jury member and leader of the Thai Cinema New Wave Apichatpong Weerasethakul (whose film UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN REMEMBER HIS PAST LIVES won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year). In short, a film feast in a beautiful and exotic locale known as “God’s own country”. For more information on the Festival, visit: http://www.iffk.keralafilm.com/festival.htm

 Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Circuit Editor