One of the biggest issues faced by the officials of the State Chalachitra Academy, the organisers of the International Film Festival of Kerala, was regarding the visit visas for its celebrity guests from abroad.
According to officials here, visa applications of quite a few filmmakers whom the academy had invited, were rejected over various reasons.
Uncertain
There is uncertainty over the visa of one of the jury members too.
Top among the list of those whom the film buffs at the festival will miss out due to visa issues is Yonfan, an important filmmaker from Hong Kong.
A former model and photographer-turned-filmmaker, he made his directorial debut in 1984 with ‘A Certain Romance.’
He shot to the limelight with films like ‘Bishonen’ and ‘Colourful Blossoms.’ The festival organisers had scheduled screening of his films as well as a masterclass by him.
“Yonfan is a very spirited character and his presence would have livened up the festival. But, with the visa issues, we had no other option, but to cancel the scheduled events. His films also will not be screened. Some of those whom we had invited got back to us saying they were treated badly by the Indian officials. One of them had their visa application rejected twice. This has not happened before,” said an academy official.
Other filmmakers
Filmmakers from countries like Lebanon, Syria and Afghanistan, whom the academy had invited, had their visas rejected too.
Even Mahamat Saleh Haroun, the Minister of Culture of Chad and one of the filmmakers in focus at the festival this year, had quite a few issues early on, despite having a diplomatic passport.
