19th IFFK: A Visual Treat of 140 Films

The capital city is about to witness the 19^th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala from December 12 to 19. 19^th IFFK is featuring around 140 movies of eminent directors from all over the globe.

 Xie Fei, the internationally acclaimed filmmaker and film pedagogue, from China is the jury chairman of this years’ festival edition. Lawrence Kardish, the curator of the museum of moving arts (MOMA), Klaus Eder, famous critic and general secretary of FIPRESCI, Turkish director Reis Celik, Sumitra Bhave, a big contributor to Marathi films and a catalyst in making Marathi films popular in the world arena embellishes the jury panel along with Xie Fei.

This time festival boasts 10 film packages, including the competition section.The highly anticipated World Cinema category has 61 films from over 37 countries. Of these films, 12 of them were represented by female directors. ‘One on One’, a movie by celebrity director Kim Ki Duk will also be screened in the World Cinema category.

Retrospective category features films by Buster Keaton and Miklos Jancso.

Contemporary Master; this category represents a bunch of internationally renowned movies directed by Danis Tanovic, Naomi Kawase and Hany Abu-Assad.

Fourteen movies are participating in the Competition category for the prestigious Golden Crow Pheasant award. Morocco and Iran represents   two films each and one film each from Bangladesh, Brazil, Japan, Argentina, Mexico and South Korea respectively. Four Indian films are also participating in competition category.

The Indian Cinema section features seven films from Bengali, Hindi, Marathi and Tamil.

Seven remarkable Malayalam movies will bejewel the “Malayalam Cinema Today” section. ‘Njan’ is a film by Ranjith casting Dulquer Salmaan as the lead. ‘1983’, directed by debutant Abrad Shine, film by another debutant Sanal Kumar Sasidharan named ‘Oral Pokkam’, ‘Carlton Towers’, a movie portrait the human faces of misfortune and mishap directed by Salil Lal Ahamed, ‘Alif’, a good-crafted movie by N. K. Muhammad Koya are the movies showcasing the Malayalam Cinema Today category.

The Retrospective category (original dare from the silent era) is another attractive section which screens the films of Buster Keaton and Miklos Jancso, two international acclaimed filmmakers. Buster Keaton is in the list of seven ever-greatest directors according to list published by Entertainment Weekly. The restored version of Buster’s movie ‘The General’ released in 1926 is being screened in this category. Miklos Jancso’s five films are included in this category. His movies are well known for its loud call for socialism and freedom. He has special reputation for making movies with social relevance.

Danis Tanovic, Hany Abu-Assad and Naomi Kawase, movies of these three film maestros embellish the contemporary master category. Four films of each of these pioneers will be screened.

As Turkish film industry celebrating its centenary, Country Focus section has been totally dedicated to Turkish film. Eight films of acclaimed Turkish directors are going to be screened in this category. Among these movies, ‘I am not him’, ‘Sivas’, ‘Come to my voice’, were appreciated as excellent movies by the film intellectuals.

Altogether, there will be thirteen films in Chinese and French package.

In Jury Film category, Xie Fei’s films will be screened. ‘Oil maker’s family’, ‘Black snow’ and ‘A girl from Hunan’. ‘Night of Silence’ by Reis Celik, ‘Vaastupursh’ by Sumitra Bhave will also be screened in jury film section.

Marco Bellochio, a creative magician who is selected for the life time achievement award this year. His film ‘My Mother’s Smile’ will be screened as Lifetime Achievement Film.