The regional edition of the International Film Festival organised by the Kerala Chalachitra Academy got underway here with the screening of the Serbian film No One’s Child, after a brief inaugural function.
The festival was formally inaugurated by lighting the traditional lamp by directors T.K. Rajeev Kumar and Jayaraj. Joshy Mathew, Jose Thomas, Taha, Pradeep Nair, Suresh Namboothiri, Joy Thomas, Thekkinkadu Joseph and others spoke.
The inaugural film at Asha theatre was the Iranian movie The Bright Day. Other movies screened at Asha were Theeb (UAE), The Tale of Nayanchampa (India) and Melbourne (Iran). Asthamayam Vare (India), Wild Tales (Argentina) and Miss Violence (Greece) were also screened during the day.
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Speaking at the meet-the-director programme organised on the sidelines of the festival, Sajin Baabu, director of the movie Asthamayam Vare (Unto the Desk) said digital technology had opened up new possibilities for those who sought to experiment with new idioms for a cinematic language one could evolve.
This was evident from the strong surge in independent movies that has been happening not only in India, but all over the world. The new technologies would help the director to experiment with a cinematic language which suited his themes, just like a poet would evolve a language of his choice to express himself, he said.
In his movie Asthamayam Vare, he had tried to follow a non-linear style of narration which some may find incomprehensible. He did not reject the analysis that the movie was inspired a lot by the novel Saint Francis by Nikos Kazantzakis and movies like Submission by Theo Van Gogh.
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The movie-line up for Wednesday are:
Anand: Over Your Dead Body (Japan); Gour Hari Dastaan (India); Whiplash (USA) and Six Feet High (India).
Asha: The Enlightened (India); Fish and Cat (Iran); Bicycle Thieves (Italy) and Myth of Kleopatra (India).