IFFK to celebrate women filmmakers

Paying tribute to women filmmakers who have carved a niche for themselves in the world of cinema, the 21st International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) will differ from the previous editions by featuring significantly more number of films helmed by women.

The ‘International Competition’ category includes movies by three women directors — Yesim Ustaoglu’s Clair Obscur , Vidhu Vincentc Manhole , and Santwana Bardoloi’s Midnight Keteki .

In her film, award-winning Turkish director Yesim Ustaoglu discusses women’s lives through her two protagonists Chenaz and Elmas. As in her previous film,

Somewhere in Between, the film-maker focuses on the conflict between female sexuality and tradition in

Clair Obscur.

Vidhu Vincent is the first woman director from Kerala to make it to the competition category of the festival with her film

, which deals with the hardships faced by manual scavengers in the State. The film is inspired by the story of Ravi Kumar, an autorickshaw driver whose ancestors were manual scavengers, a section that is largely ignored by both the government and the public.

Besides, five films directed by French film-maker-actress Mia Hansen will be featured under ‘Contemporary Film-maker in Focus.’ They include All is Forgiven , Father of My Children , and Things to Come , among others.

Another highlight of the IFFK will be

Daisies directed by Vera Chytilova, the sole film-maker of the Czech New Wave movement. The film that had been made in 1966 had sown the seeds for the movement. It was banned by the Czech government for ‘depicting the wanton.’ Chytilova was later prohibiting from film-making until 1975.

Deepa Mehta’s Anatomy of violence, portraying the misogyny of the society, and Konkona Sen Sharma’s directorial debut A Death in The Gunj, a realistic drama featuring Kalki Koechlin, will also be screened at the IFFK. The other Indian women directors whose films have made it to the IFFK were Ananya Kasaravalli, Sumithra Bhave and Leena Yadav.

The long list of women film-makers also included Mitra Farahani, Soo Jung Kim, Ana Cristina Barragan, Claudia Varejao, Mira Nair, Kristina Grozeva, Lea Fehner, Hala Khalil, Julia Ducournau, Elia. K. Schneider, Ruxandra Zenide, Marjan Ashrafizadeh and Lina Luzyte.