Insult , directed by Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri on the struggles of the Palestinian people, will be the opening film of this edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK).
The film focuses on a dispute between a Palestinian construction worker and a Lebanese Christian car mechanic that evolves into a courtroom thriller touching on questions of guilt and honour. People who have lost their ‘identity’ and ‘space’ will be the focus of the festival, which will have 190 films from 65 countries.
Six films will be screened in the ‘Identity and Space’ section. Part of the section will be Bangladeshi films Live from Dhaka , directed by Abdullah Mohammad Saad, and Radio Dreams , directed by Babak Jalali. Liar’s Dice , directed by Geethu Mohandas, will also be part of the section.
Candelaria , directed by Jhonny Hendrix, and Azerbaijani film Pomegranate Orchard , directed by Ilgar Najaf, are the international films in the competition section. Randu Per , directed by Prem Shankar, and Eden , directed by Sanju Surendran, are the Malayalam films in the section.
The Indian films in the section are Kadwi Hawa , directed by Nila Madhab Panda, and Newton , directed by Amit V. Masurkar.
Russian filmmaker Alexander Sokurov has been chosen for the Lifetime Achievement award this year.
His films Father and Son , Francophonia , Mother and Son , and Russian Ark will be screened at the festival. In the retrospective section, the films of Filipino director Lino Brocka and K.P. Kumaran will be screened.
In the contemporary masters in focus section, the films of African filmmaker Mahamat Saleh Haroun and Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco will be screened. There will be 21 packages in this edition of the festival including, contemporary Asian cinema, restored classics, and jury films.
The ‘Avalkoppam’ package will focus on women-centric films in Malayalam. Another package will be on Japanese animation films.
Fourteen films are being screened as part of the Indian Cinema Today and Malayalam Cinema Now sections.
