Thiruvananthapuram: Moroccan director Tala Hadid, whose film 'The Narrow Frame of Midnight' won much appreciation by the crowd and the critics alike at this year's IFFK, said she is amazed by the sight of hundreds of people lining up to watch movies at the fest.
"I have been travelling from film festival to film festival with my films in the recent times. I have never seen such a crowd at any of the festivals around the world. I'm very excited to be a part of this festival," she said in an exclusive interview with Onmanorama.
"What I've heard about the Kerala's festival is that it is very open, very generous and supportive to the world cinema," she said. “Being here, I'm already feeling very very special,” added Tala sporting a bright smile.
The film-maker said she feels good to be in a place where different visions were supported. “This energy and the way audience respond is really inspiring,” she commented.
Tala arrived in Thiruvananthapuram Wednesday night from Singapore.
“Before that I was in Dubai with my film. I have attended a few different film festivals. It is absolutely amazing to see common people, government employees, workers and students...all of them coming together to watch films. In most festivals I attended, the screening were conducted in closed rooms. The only audience there would be special guests, invitees and film-makers. But, this is how it should be," Tala said.
"What more do you expect a film-maker to have than this experience. Here, films are open to real public, I mean citizens of this city. This is a paradise for film-makers. I think film-makers should come here and learn from the festival," Tala said.
She added that there are only very few women movie directors in Morocco, mainly because of patriarchal rule.
"It is very hard for a woman director to come up to work in the main stream industry. It is all about gender class battle, but women directors always try to break the conventional way of storytelling," she said.