Many festival goers found the sixteenth International Film Festival of Kerala loosely organised. P SANDHEEP attends the festival and returns not fully satisfied.
Thiruvananthapuram: The International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), which started their journey through films 15 years back has been driving its ride successively and successfully, and has subjugated the hearts of millions of film lovers across the globe. When the curtain of this grand festival falls, it is to be asked whether the 16th IFFK has fully quenched the thirst for good films of the serious audiences who attended it.
The platform of festival is set forth luminously to represent the contemporary issues and to make the viewers examine the upcoming trends of today’s movies candidly. The highlight of the festival was the division of the movies into categories like world movies, IFFK competition, football films, Kaidan Horror classics, contemporary masterpieces etc. Even though there were numerous movies like The Painting lesson (Spain-Chile-Mexico/2010, directed by Pablo Perelman), Three (Germany, 2010, directed by Tom Tykwer), The Colours of the Mountain (Columbia-Panama/2011, directed by Carlos Cesarardelaez) The First Grade (Uk-Kenya/2010, directed by Justin Chadwick), Flamingo. No 13 (Iran/2010, directed by Hamid Reza Aligholian), Body (Turkey,2011, directed by Mustafa Nuri) etc. which have touched the soul of some, there was no heavy tide of the audience for many of the movies.
Most of the films screened in the festival were released during the past two years; the movies were true reflection and challenges of the world’s film sensibility. Many films portrayed the fluctuations and turbulent incidents that keep happening across different countries. One of the popular films in the festival, The Painting Lesson focused the coup of soldiers in Chile during the period of 60’s. Three, visualises the picture of triangle love relations. A docu-fiction, The Dead Sea, by Leena Manimekhala critically investigates the racial discrimination and prejudices between Sri Lankans and Tamilians in Tamil Nadu. Likewise, all movies in the festival rendered the political graph of different countries in different perspective. One can see the attitude and opinion of various film lovers at open forums and in the informal discussions led by different film buffs and media personnel.
Of course, the film festivals like IFFK play a significant role in reaching out with politically and socially important messages to the minds of millions of people. The Arab revolution and Latin American anti-colonial movies were ruling the roost at the IFFK, including the French and German highlights. No doubt, Malayalam movies were also there in the session. This 16th endeavor couldn’t fully satisfy the taste of the audience, and there were much turbulence about the selection of films and the Jury. Even though it goes through innumerable riddles, this cultural landscape has reached the minds of many. Every year the festival gives a different exposure. And the number of delegates keeps increasing, year by year, especially the number of young film buffs attending. Festival offers a travelogue through legendary movies. It helps to analyse the difference between good and bad movies. The prominence of today’s film in a social spectrum withholds no theme and message.
It’s said and often criticised, the era of fourth movie silver screen like Torrents, TV channels etc. have made the once dreamed-about films easily available with a click. However, various film makers and producers observe this phenomenon very critically and skeptically. They believe that this drastic situation is affecting world film industry in very bad ways.
The 16th IFFK was shabbily organised and captured negative responses from most of the audience. When comparing to the previous years, the free transportation facility to get to the next theater was hardly available. The delegate pass was not provided to the people at right time. The scarcity of festival kit including the booklet created disappointment and disorder among the audience. The level of good quality films in the category of competition section and others was minimal. Few like Body and The Painting Lesson saved the image of those categories. The film Body pulled a huge crowd to the theater. Only theaters like New, Sree Pathmanabha, Kairali and Sree had full audience, otherwise. The emptiness of other theaters was a usual scene. Open forums have always been a platform for unproductive disputes rather than healthy discussions. Even though there were a lot of movies, the hunger of the film lovers remained unsatisfied. Most of them expressed it openly, even. The film festival should lead one to nurture the sweetness of good movies. The question whether this festival has satisfied the audience brings a possibly a negative answer, for many delegates.
Campus Now 
