This year's International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), which kicks off on Friday, is pegged to be bigger and better than ever before. In its 15th edition now, the seven-day festival has mushroomed into one of the biggest of its kind in the country with around 10,000 delegates, who will watch 200 films from 83 countries. It is this “continuously evolving” spirit of the fete that has been captured on posters and billboards by designer Arun Gokul.
“I have been a regular at IFFK for a number of years now. Over the last five years or so I've witnessed first hand, the evolving stature of the festival. It is now perhaps one of the best attended events in the State, if not the country. It is like a tree that keeps growing year after year, with clusters of leaves sprouting up with each year's passing, adding to the canopy,” says Arun, a Kochi-based freelance graphics designer and “big time” film enthusiast, whose design was selected from among a number of entries. He had previously designed the cover for the festival book in 2007.
Deceptively simple
At first glance, Arun's poster design for IFFK 2010 is deceptively simple. It looks like the canopy of a tree, with its leaves swaying in the breeze, and set against a white and dull grey background. As expected, the chakoram (the crow pheasant), which is the logo of the fete, flutters near the canopy. On a closer look, though, you will be surprised to see that the green canopy and the grey background are actually made up of tens of finger prints!
“It represents the delegates at the fete. After all they are the ones who with their active participation have made the fete this big,” explains Arun. And yes the 29-year-old, who otherwise designs jacket covers for leading publishers in the State, will be an “active participant” this year too.
