Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Audience surge continues

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There was no let up in the audience enthusiasm at the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) even on the penultimate day of the eight-day-long festival, on Thursday.

Even the repeat screenings were held to packed audiences. For instance, there was a heavy rush for the Chinese film ‘Getting Home by Yang Zhang’ even though it was being screened for third time in the festival on Thursday.

‘Banishment’ by Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev won wide acclaim from the IFFK audience. The Mexican film ‘Pans Labyrinth’ by Guilermo tel Torro was a remarkable experience. This film wonderfully explores the rich potential of the cinema to tell a story that subtly combines politics, spiritualism, fantasy and several other dimensions of human relations.

In the Malayalam film section, Lenin Rajendran’s ‘Rathri Mazha’ and Shyamaprasad’s ‘Ore Kadal’ created significant excitement among the audience. Nine films were screened in the Competition section. Several short films screened at the festival on Thursday were also welcomed by the audience.

Adoor Gopalakrishnan released a copy of the script of the documentary ‘Kali, the Flaming Face’ made by M.S. Banesh by giving a copy to K.G. George.

Some of the film-makers whose films are in the competition section shared the experiences and challenges they faced during their film production at a press conference.

Natasha Blair from Argentina said that even though financial problems had imposed severe constraints for the film-makers in her country, they could devise several means to overcome them. “If you have a bright idea and a strong determination, half the work is done. You can make movies even with mobile cameras.”

Zhuang Yuxin from China, Neel Buboi from the Philippines, Teresa Prata from Mozambique and Agnidev Chatterjee from Kolkata were among those who attended the press conference.

Earlier, addressing a press conference the Malayalam film-makers Lenin Rajendran, Shyamaprasad, Roshan Andrews, Avira Rebecca and Babu Tiruvalla suggested that the Kerala Chalachithra Academy and the State government should take steps to market good Malayalam films within the country and outside.

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