International Film Festival of Kerala

അന്തർദേശീയ ചലച്ചിത്രോത്സവം കേരളം International Film Festival of Kerala
Location	Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Hosted by	Kerala State Chalachitra Academy
Festival date	November/December
Language	International
http://www.iffk.in

The International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK; Malayalam: അന്തർദേശീയ ചലച്ചിത്രോത്സവം കേരളം, Anthardeshiya chalachitrolsavam keralam) 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. 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. Competition section is limited to 14 selected films produced in Asia, Africa or Latin America. The festival also has a section devoted to Malayalam cinema. On the lines of the IFFK, the Chalachitra Academy also organises the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala.

History

The Directorate of Film Festivals, Govt of India held the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) at Thiruvananthapuram in 1988. 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. 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.

Highlights of the Festival

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. 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).

Awards

• The Golden Crow Pheasant Award: Suvarna Chakoram and a cash prize of Rs.1,000,000/- (about US$20,000) to the best feature film to be shared equally by the director and the producer

• The Silver Crow Pheasant Award: Rajata Chakoram and a cash prize of Rs.300,000/- (about US$6,000) to the best director

• Best Debut Film Award: Rajata Chakoram and a cash prize of Rs.200,000/- (about US$4,000) to the best debut director.

• Audience Prize: Rajata Chakoram and cash prize of Rs.100,000 (about US$2,000) to the Director of the most popular film voted by the festival delegates

• FIPRESCI Award: For the best film chosen by the Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique.

• Netpac Award: For the best film in the competition section from Asia, chosen by the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema.

• Newly Introduced Awards: In 2007, two more awards from the FIPRESCI and the Netpac are introduced, which will be awarded separately to the best Malayalam films at the festival.

IFFK 2012

The 17th edition of IFFK was held at Thiruvananthapuram from 7 to 14 December 2012. It was inaugurated by Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy with a special screening of Alfred Hitchcock's silent film The Ring (1927), with the accompaniment of live orchestration of a new score created by the sextet led by British Jazz artiste Soweto Kinch. One hundred and ninety eight films from 54 countries were shown in the festival.

14 films were screened in the competition section, including two Malayalam films (Bhoomiyude Avakashikal by T. V. Chandran and Shutter by Joy Mathew) and two non-Malayalam Indian films (I.D by Kamal K. M. and Filmistaan by Nitin Kakkar). IFFK 2012 had retrospectives of thespians and auteurs, past and present. It had works by Australian filmmaker Paul Cox (who chaired the competition jury), Burkina Faso film director and screenwriter Pierre Yameogo, French filmmaker Alain Resnais, the Japanese master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, Brazilian actor Helena Ignez, British filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock and Malayalam actor Sathyan.

IFFK 2012 was appreciated for improved viewing experiences it provided through better theatre atmosphere and high-tech sound and visual systems. IFFK 2012 was not free from controversies either. The ban imposed on the reshow of Deepa Mehta's Midnight's Children created a widespread controversy. The film, an adaptation of renowned writer Salman Rushdie's masterpiece novel Midnight's Children, had its Asian premiere at the IFFK. After the premiere show, Indian National Congress leaders came against the movie alleging that the film portrays former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi and some other leaders in a negative manner. Following the allegations, any further screening of the film in the festival was stopped, an act which drew heavy criticism. Another controversy originated when the screening of Jayan K. Cherian's controversial film Papilio Buddha was aborted at the last minute by Kerala Police. Police sources claimed that there was an Intelligence Bureau report, which said that the screening could trigger major trouble in the city due to its alleged negative remarks on Mahatma Gandhi and overall Dalit sympathy it followed.

Awards

• The Golden Crow Pheasant Award for Best Feature Film – Sta. Nina (Emmanuel Quindo Palo)
• The Silver Crow Pheasant Award for Best Debut Film – Filmistaan (Nitin Kakkar)
• The Silver Crow Pheasant Award for Best Director – Francisca Silva (Ivan's Woman)
• The Silver Crow Pheasant Award for Best Feature Film (Audience Prize) – Shutter (Joy Mathew)
• FIPRESCI Award for Best Asian Film – The Repentant (Merzak Allouache)
• FIPRESCI Award for Best Malayalam Film – Ithra Mathram (K. Gopinath)
• NETPAC Award for Best Asian Film – I. D. (K. D. Kamal)
• NETPAC Award for Best Malayalam Film – Ee Adutha Kalathu (Arun Kumar)
• Hassan Kutty Award for Best Debut Indian Film – Chayiliam (Manoj Kana)

IFFK 2011

Main venue of 16 th Iffk 2011 at Kairali

Rush at delegate pass distribution cell at Kalabhavan theatre

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. The inaugural film was Under the Hawthron Tree, directed by Chinese film-maker Zhang Yimou. Noted director Priyadarshan was the jury chairman.

The honours

• The Golden Crow Pheasant Award for Best Feature Film – The Colours of the Mountains (Carlos Cesar Arbelaez)
• The Silver Crow Pheasant Award for Best Debut Film – A Stone's Thrown Away (Sebastian Hiriat)
• The Silver Crow Pheasant Award for Best Director – Hamid Reza Aligholian (Flemingo No: 13)
• The Silver Crow Pheasant Award for Best Feature Film (Audience Prize) – The Painting Lesson (Pablo Perelman)
• FIPRESCI Award for Best Asian Film – The Future Last Forever (Ozcan Alper)
• FIPRESCI Award for Best Malayalam Film – Adaminte Makan Abu (Salim Ahamed)
• NETPAC Award for Best Asian Film – At the End of It All (Aditi Roy)
• NETPAC Award for Best Malayalam Film – Adaminte Makan Abu (Salim Ahamed)
• Hassan Kutty Award for Best Debut Indian Film – Adaminte Makan Abu (Salim Ahamed)

IFFK 2010

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. The opening film was Please Do Not Disturb. 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.

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.

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.

IFFK 2009

The 14th edition of IFFK was 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 honours

The winners of the competition section were:

• Suvarna Chakoram and cash prize of Rs. 1 million for Best film shared between: Darbareye Elly/About Elly (Iran) Director: Asghar Farhadi and Jermal /Fishing Platform (Indonesia) Director: Ravi Bharwani
• Rajatha Chakoram and cash prize of Rs 300,000 for Best Director: Nosir Saidov for the film True Noon (Tadjikistan)
• Rajatha Chakoram and a cash prize of Rs 200,000 for Best Debut Film: Izulu Lami /My Secret Sky Dir: Madoda Ncayiyana
• Rajatha Chakoram and a cash prize of Rs 100,000 for Audience Award: Ghiyame Rooz/True Noon (Tadjikistan) directed by Nosir Saidov
• FIPRESCI Award for Best Film: La Mosca en la Ceniza/ A Fly in the Ashes (Argentina) Dir: Gabriela David
• FIPRESCI Award for Best Malayalam Film: Pathaam Nilayile Theevandi/ Train on the Tenth Floor dir: Joshy Mathew
• NETPAC Award for Best Asian Film in Competition: Jermal /Fishing Platform (Indonesia) Director: Ravi Bharwani
• NETPAC Award for Best Malayalam Film : Kerala Café: Dirs: Shyamaprasad, Lal Jose, Shaji Kailas, B Unnikrishnan, Revathy, Anvar Rasheed, Padma Kumar, Anjali Menon, Uday Ananathan, Sankar Ramakrishnan
• Hassan Kutty Award for Best Debut Indian Film (Cerificate and a cash prize of Rs 50,000/ instituted by Mira Nair): Harishchandrachi Factory/ Harishchandra's Factory (Marathi) Dir: Paresh Mokashi

IFFK 2008

The 13th International Film Festival of Kerala was held from 12–19 December 2008. 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. 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.

The Honours

The winners in the competition section were:

• Suvarna Chakoram and cash prize of Rs. 1 million for the Best Film: Parque Via (Dir:Enrique Rivero) (86min/Mexico/2008)
• Rajatha Chakoram and cash prize of Rs. 300,000 for Best Director: Mariana Rondon for Postcards from Leningrad
• Rajatha Chakoram and cash prize of Rs.200,000 for Best Debut Film: My Marlon and Brando (Dir:Huseyin Karabey) (92min/Turkey/2008)
• Special Jury Award for the Best Debut Film: Firaaq (Dir: Nandita Das) (101min/Hindi/2008)
• Special Jury Award: The Yellow House (Dir:Amor Hakkar) (84min/Algeria, France/2008)
• Audience Award for the best film: Machan (Dir: Uberto Pasolini, Sri Lanka)
• FIPRESCI award for Best Film: Postcards from Leningrad (Dir: Mariana Rondon)
• FIPRESCI award for the best Malayalam film: Manjadikuru (Dir: Anjali Menon)
• NETPAC award for the best Asian film: My Marlon and Brando (Dir: Huseyin Karabey)
• NETPAC award for the best Malayalam film: Adayalangal (Dir: M.G. Sasi)
• Hassankutty Award for the best Indian debut director: Anjali Menon for Manjadikkuru

IFFK 2007

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, MA 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.

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. 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.

The honours

• Suvarna Chakoram and cash prize of Rs.1 million for the best film shared by: XXY directed by Lucia Puenzo and 10+4 directed by Mania Akbari
• Rajatha Chakoram and cash prize of Rs.200,000 for the Best director: Mania Akbari (Iran) 10+4
• Rajatha Chakoram and cash prize of Rs.300,000 for the Best Debut Film: Lucia Puenzo (Argentina) for XXY
• Special jury prize: Abdullah Oguz (Turkey) for Bliss
• FIPRESCI Award for the Best Film in competition: Sleepwalking Land
• FIPRESCI Award for the Best Malayalam Film: Ore Kadal
• NETPAC Award for the Best Asian Film in competition: Getting Home
• NETPAC Award for the Best Malayalam Film: Ore Kadal

External links

• IFFK 2010 Full Coverage: The Hindu
• Reports from IFFK'08
• Official website
• Reports of IFFK 2008