Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, director of the movie S Durga, is hosting a parallel film festival to counter the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK). His Kazhcha Indie Film Fest (KIFF) is being held on the first four days of the state’s lead film festival.
The other organizations hosting KIFF are Kaazhcha Film Society and Nirav Art Movies. KIFF features 14 films and four documentaries in several Indian languages. Most of the films being played here have already made a mark for themselves in various national and international fora.
It was inaugurated on December 8 by Anand Gandhi, the director of Ship of Theseus, in Vazhuthacaud.
While the IFFK, organized annually by the Kerala Chalachitra Academy, will be held between December 8 and 15, the parallel event will take place between December 8 and 11.
The alternate festival opened with Shanavas Naranippuzha’s much-acclaimed film, Karie. KIF will close with Geetu Mohandas’ Liars Dice, which, incidentally, is also a part of the IFFK.
KIFF has also organized BRIGADE, an open forum for film lovers, which takes place every night from 9 pm to midnight – here fans can come together to discuss cinema over a cup of black tea. The festival’s programme also includes panel discussions and seminars.
Initially, the selection committee of the IFFK had agreed to include S Durga in its Malayalam Cinema Today category, but the director rejected the offer for he wanted it to compete in the IFFK. He had also accused the Kerala film festival of moving away from its aim of celebrating indie and avant-garde movies.
Meanwhile, IFFK’s artistic director, Bina Paul, refuted Sasidharan’s allegations saying, “No one can accuse us of ignoring good movies made in Malayalam or any other languages. We cannot select all the films in the competition section. We offered him a good slot, but he chose not to show the film.”
S Durga was supposed to be screened in the prestigious International Film Festival of India, but wasn’t because it didn’t get the nod from the country’s Central Board of Film Certification due to its so-called volatile content. IFFK had then announced that it would screen the movie instead.