From its selection of Palestinian movies to the songs in solidarity at the venues, the International Film Festival of Kerala has been quite expressive of its support of the people of Gaza, a territory torn apart by Israeli attacks everyday in the ongoing war. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in his inaugural speech last Friday, December 8, of how the IFFK is equal to any global festival in terms of its political content. The Palestinian films featured in the festival show to the world Kerala’s solidarity with the struggles of Palestinian people, he said.
In the IFFK’s listing of films, the movies from Palestine are described as coming from ‘Occupied Palestinian Territory’, in an acknowledgement of the war. Among the movies in a category titled ‘Decolonising the mind’, featuring anti-war films, are Omar and Degrade. Omar, made in 2013, tells a love story taking place amid the Israel-Palestine conflict. Degrade, a 2015 film, brings together 13 women inside a beauty salon, hiding from the violence of war in the streets of Gaza. Hanging Gardens, from Iraq, and Crescendo from Israel are two other films that acknowledge the atrocities of the war.
Delegates too took it upon themselves to express their solidarity in creative ways. A collective called PQRS (Palestine QR code Solidarity) has been singing songs in support of the people of Gaza at IFFK venues. Another online group, Aikyam Collective, which describes itself as a group in Thiruvananthapuram standing with the oppressed of the world, has also been campaigning for Palestine solidarity at the IFFK.