The atmosphere at the Tagore theatre, the main venue of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), turned lively on Wednesday, with the opening of the festival office and the delegate cell.
Cultural Activists’ Welfare Fund Board chairman P. Sreekumar inaugurated the festival office. Kerala State Film Development Corporation chairman Lenin Rajendran inaugurated the delegate cell.
Filmmaker T.V. Chandran handed over the first delegate pass to Molly Thomas, a delegate who was chosen randomly. The distribution of passes began soon after, through twelve counters set up for the purpose. The process progressed without many glitches, although long queues were visible initially. Thousands of delegates have collected their passes on the first day itself.
Though the State Chalachithra Academy has decided to cancel the gala inaugural event and all the entertainment events as part of the festival, as a mark of respect to those who died in the aftermath of the cyclone Ockhi, a short function will be organised to pay tributes to those who lost their lives. Bengali actor Madhavi Mukherjee and Tamil actor Prakash Raj will take part. This will be followed by the screening of the opening film Insult , directed by Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri.
40 films to be premiered
Addressing a press conference, Culture Minister A.K. Balan said that 40 films would be premiered at this edition of the festival. There will be a total of 8,048 seats across 15 theatres.
“All the major films will be screened at the Nishagandahi theatre, which can accommodate 2,500 people. The competition films will be screened in bigger theatres such as Tagore, Kairali, Dhanya, and Ajantha. Sixty per cent of the seats will be reserved in advance. Entry will be restricted according to the number of seats, considering the safety issues raised by the Fire and Rescue Services and theatre owners,” the Minister said.
Bina Paul, artistic director of the festival, said the number of women volunteers had been increased to 30 as part of steps to ensure women’s safety. A special committee has also been formed for handling complaints. Complaints can be sent to the e-mail id: talktous@iffk.in .
A total of 190 films from 65 countries will be screened at the festival. The competition section has 14 films, out of which two are Malayalam films.
