The News Minute| November 12, 2014| 7.00 pm IST

Ace filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s recent comments that only those who know English must attend the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) has drawn wide-spread flak. To add insult to injury, he said those who are seeing foreign films for the first time, need not attend at all.

From this edition of the film festival, Adoor Gopalakrishnan says they have a new screening method in place for the delegates and the film festival will collect data of the delegate’s perception of the movie.

An Adoor Gopalakrishnan panel was formed to improve aspects of cinema in Kerala and as per the advise of the panel, IFFK had decided to introduce a delegate screening process from this year, its 19th edition.

Addressing a press conference about the film festival, he said, “These are movies from various countries with English sub-titles. So only people who know English can understand it. Also, there are eligible ones waiting outside the theatre while many illegible ones managed to come inside looking for hot scenes.”

Reacting to Adoor's comment, director Joy Mathew, said, “Though I have respected Adoor as a film maker, his stand on the film festival shows a colonial ‘hang-over.’