The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : 14 entries in competition section

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 29, 2007
ePaper

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

14 entries in competition section

Special Correspondent

IFFK to be held in capital from December 7 to 14

Six films included in Indian cinema section
Eight films in Malayalam section

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As many as 14 films, including `Paradesi’ directed by P.T. Kunhi Muhammed and `Naalu Pennungal’ of Adoor Gopalakrishnan, have been included in the competition section of the 12th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) to be held here from December 7 to 14.

Minister for Culture and Education M.A. Baby and office-bearers of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy told reporters here on Sunday that a committee headed by film-maker K.G. George has selected the films from 450 entries submitted for the festival.

Six films have been included in the Indian cinema section and eight films, including ‘AKG’ directed by Shaji N. Karun and Lenin Rajendran’s ‘Rathri Mazha,’ in the section for Malayalam films. The selection committee has recommended ‘Thaniye’ directed by Babu Thiruvalla to be screened as the opening film of the section.

From this year onwards, the best film in the Malayalam section will get an award instituted by NETPAC for the promotion of Asian cinema and another award by FIPRESCI, the international federation of press critics. The entries for the documentary and short films section were selected by a committee headed by short film-maker K.K. Chandran. P. Baburaj and Dr. Sreekumar were members of the committee.

One of the main attractions of the 12th edition is the films from Balkan regions such as Albania, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Greece, Macedonia and Serbia. This mountainous peninsula of southwest Europe had been torn by ethnic strife, breaking down of States and emergence of new identities. The films made in these regions in recent years which reflect the life and culture of the people will be screened at the festival.

Films of famous Czech director Jiri Menzel forms the major retrospective section. The films of P. Bhaskaran, Michelangelo Antonioni, Ingrid Bergman, Istvan Gal, Ousmane Sembene, Edward Yang, K.K. Mahajan and the films made on the stories of C.V. Sreeraman will be screened in the homage section. Delegate passes will be available at the office of the Federation of Film Societies at Kalabhavan from November 1 to 25. Mr. Baby released the delegates pass at the press conference.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala