In the weeks leading up to the International Film Festival of Kerala, frantic messages were seen in one of the many social media groups of film buffs, requesting for the torrent files of films which have made a splash at major festivals. Probably, many of them have watched at least a few of these films, in screens as small as that of the smart phone and as big as that of the home theatre.
Yet, when the curtain goes up on the 24th edition of the festival on Friday in the State capital, most of them will be there, standing patiently in long queues for the next show or debating furiously on how a particular film worked, and another did not. All the convenience and cosiness of having works from all over the world streamed to your home does not match the joy of watching it as part of a community, as films have always been watched from its early days.
Like in the previous year, the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, the organiser of the festival, is working under the limitations of a tight budget, due to the unprecedented floods and natural destruction in two succeeding years that have caused a strain on the State’s finances. But, this has not reflected much on the fare on offer, including some of the most talked about films of the year, as well as some fresh finds for the competition category.
Works from old masters Costa-Gavras, Goran Paskaljević, Ken Loach, Michael Haneke and Pedro Almodovar to the young acclaimed filmmakers like Bong Joon-Ho and Corneliu Porumboiu have been lined up over the week. The toast of the festival will be legendary Argentinian filmmaker Fernando E. Solanas, who will be presented with the lifetime achievement awards and five of whose films will be screened here.
There have of course been voices of dissent, much like all editions of the festival, over the selection of the films, on whether too many commercial films from India have found a place on the list and whether the selection committee has given independent filmmakers a raw deal. The jury is still out on that. But, it is any day better for a festival to be a space for dissent and debate, rather than be regimented, disciplined spaces where no protest is allowed, as some bigger film fetes these days are.
A year shy of a quarter century, the IFFK this year too is sure to provide memorable moments at the marquee for film buffs.
