Thiruvananthapuram: The 23rd edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) will kick off today with the Spanish movie 'Everybody Knows' by Oscar award-winning director Asghar Farhadi. The seven-day-long festival, which is organised by the Kerala Chalachitra Academy on behalf of Department of Cultural Affairs, will have 190 films from 65 countries. Two Malayalam movies 'Ea.Ma.Yau' and 'Sudani from Nigeria' are in the International Competition section of the event that will conclude on December 13.
'The Human Spirit: Films on Hope and Rebuilding' is the theme of the festival, which was earlier called off due to the Kerala flood. Six movies will be screened under this category.
“This year's film festival is not merely a celebration of art of cinema but the triumph of resilience of Kerala as a society,” said Kamal, chairman of Kerala State Chalachitra Academy and IFFK festival director.
IFFK will be inaugurated by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan at Nishagandhi auditorium, Kanakakunnu, at 6 pm on Friday. Bengali filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta will be the chief guest at the opening ceremony. The event which is held as a low-key affair will not have any cultural performances unlike in the previous years.
As the festival is conducted on a limited budget without any government funding, the Academy was forced to increase the delegate fees to Rs 2,000.
Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi is the jury chairman of the competition category.
As this year marks the Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman's birth centenary, IFFK has a special package of eight of his movies for screening. Nandita Das' 'Manto' which was first screened at Cannes earlier this year is another highlight.
Seat reservations for the event kicked off on Friday and delegates can reserve the seats one day prior to the screening.
'IFFK 2018' app for reservations can be downloaded from Google Play Store.
