CM to open film fete on Dec. 9

185 films from 62 countries to be screened at week-long event

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the 21st International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) at a function to be held at Nishagandhi at 6 p.m. on on December 9. Culture Minister A.K. Balan will preside.

The Chief Minister will honour Czech film-maker Jiri Menzel with the lifetime achievement award. Actor and film-maker Amol Palekar will be the chief guest.

Festival booklet

Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac will release the festival booklet by handing over a copy to Mayor V.K. Prashanth. MPs Shashi Tharoor and Suresh Gopi will take part.

Afghan film

Parting (Raftan) will be the opening film of the festival. It will also be the Indian premiere of the film, based on the the theme of migration.

In a press conference held here on Friday, Mr. Balan said that 185 films from 62 countries will be screened at the week-long festival.

Categories

The international competition category will have 15 films. In the world cinema category, 81 films will be screened. Kazakhstan will be the country in focus this year. French film-maker Mia Hansen-Love will be the contemporary film-maker in focus.

The screenings will be held in 13 theatres in the city. There will be a total of 9,000 seats across these theatres. The newly-constructed theatre at Nishagandhi can accommodate 2,500 people at a time. Daily screenings here will be at 6 p.m., 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.

The number of delegates who have registered is 16,767. Out of this, around 11,000 have already remitted the registration fee.

Curtain raiser

On Sunday, Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar will inaugurate the film festival curtain raiser on the Shanghumugham beach at 5 p.m.

The touring talkies which began its journey from Kasaragod on November 1, as part of the promotion of the festival, will conclude its journey on the beach.

This will be followed by a performance by the band ‘Oorali’ and a screening of the film Ottal , which won the award for the best film in the previous edition of the IFFK.

The Culture Minister will inaugurate the distribution of delegate passes at Tagore Theatre, the main venue of the festival, at 11 a.m on December 6, by handing over a pass to actor Manju Warrier.

Adoor to be honoured

The Chalachitra Academy will honour film-maker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, who has completed 50 years in cinema, at a function to be held at the Apollo Dimora Hotel at 11 a.m. on December 12.

This will be followed by a seminar on his films, with keynote address by film scholar M.K. Raghavendra. There will be folk performances at Tagore Theatre on all evenings from December 10 to 15, as part of ‘Vajrakeralam’ celebrations.

Six books

The academy is also bringing out six books related to cinema as part of the festival.

The Chief Minister will inaugurate the closing ceremony to be held at the Nishagandhi auditorium on December 16.