Journeys to the Past

Interview with CM (Oommen Chandy)

IFFK Spotlight: Interview with Bina Paul

IFFK Spotlight: Interview with Bina Paul

Remya P.P. & Parvathy Vijayan

Remembering Rithuparno

An anthology of LOVE

100 Yeas of Indian Cinema

She and Taxi

In the 'Top Angle'

A Searchlight for IFFK deligates

Theaters in Festive Mood

Golden opportunities for documentary buffs

Mahesh N.

'Sreepadmanabha' over the years

IFFK: Action begins today

IFFK: Action begins today

The city of Thiruvananthapuram is all set to welcome the week long fiesta organized by Kerala State Chalachitra Academy on behalf of the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala. For each and every soul who shares a genuine passion for film, the 17th edition of International Film Festival of Kerala will screen about 200 films from various parts of the world. The festival will take about 7000 delegates through the undefined, but spectacular path of cinema in the coming week.

 Chief Minister Ommen Chandy will inaugurate the festival at Nishagandhi open air auditorium at 6pm. Actor Mohanlal will be the chief guest. Union Minister Shri Shasi Tharoor, Health Minister V.S. Shivakumar, Mayor K Chandrika, K Muraleedharan MLA and V.Shivankutty MLA will also be present for the ceremony.

 ‘The Ring’ directed by Alfred Hitchcock is the opening movie of this year. This 1960 horror classic will be accompanied by the live background scores by Peter Conway management, London.

This year the films are categorized in sections such as Australian Indigenous films, Vietnam films, Srilankan package, Adolescent films, Competition films, Top angle Indian cinema, Indian cinema today, Malayalam cinema today, Homage section and Retrospective.

Eminent Australian filmmaker Paul Cox is the Chairperson of the International Jury to adjudge Suvarna Chakoram and Rajatha Chakoram awards. The members are Burkinabe film director Pierre Yamaego, Anne demi Geroe, Govind Nihlani and Dang Minh Nhat. The Netpac Jury includes Park Sung Ho, Tina Lokk and Jayantha Chandrasiri. Gyorgy Karpati, Narjes Torchani and Subrahmanyan Viswanath are the members of FIPRESCI Jury.

 In the retrospective section films of Paul Cox, Pierre Yamaego, Alain Resnais, Akira Kurasowa and Brazilian actress Helena Ignes and Sathyan will be screened. The 17th IFFK will pay homage to famous film personalities including Tilakan, Appachan, Vindhyan, T Damodaran, Jose Prakash, C P Padma Kumar, Asok Mehta, Chris Marker and Kaneto Shindo. 14 films are on the race for the Suvarna Chakoram out of which two is Malayalam.

Buffing up for the film gala

Buffing up for the film gala

Anila Backer P

Lakshmi Vijayan

Eleven theatres in Trivandrum had a face-lift recently. They are the ones identified for the screening of IFFK festival films.

  

  “The restoration work is over and the cinema houses are all set for the eight day gala. We had stopped the regular shows for maintenance works like dusting up the seats, swapping the faulty seats with new ones, servicing the equipment for projection  and painting the hall ”, said Soman Nair, the manager of the Dhanya-Remya theatre complex.

Edited By: RenjithR Nair

  The same hustle was shown by the government to make its theatres look spic and span. At the government-owned Kairali theatre a special canteen has been set up exclusively for IFFK. “We have arranged car parking facilities outside the cinema for the delegates and the roads outside the theatres have already been repaired”, said Gandhimathi Balan, the Vice Chairman of Kerala Chalachitra Academy.

           

  The theatres utilized the gap given by the film distributors’ strike to carry out a large chunk of the work. Moreover, the release of two Malayalam films has been postponed in view of the festival.

           

  Sreepadmanabha theatre which has always remained a cut above the rest claims to have come up with cushy cotton seats and better cleaning techniques this time.

           

  Unfortunately, despite all the arrangements being made at  the theatres, there are still chances of complaints cropping up regarding the hygiene in the theatres  due to littering of food particles. But this problem can be tackled only with the cooperation of the delegates. “Cleaning is indeed a difficult task as the audience refuses to go out after the screening, waiting for the next” said a theatre official.