IFFK Assignment - Report

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The 24th International Film Festival of Kerala kick-started on 6th December 2019. The grand opening ceremony was held at Nishagandhi auditorium, Vazhuthakkadu in the evening.The minister for Culture and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri A K Balan presided over the event while the honourable Chief Minister of Kerala, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan lighted the lamp and performed the inauguration. Films were screened from the first day of the festival itself.

 Shri Pinarayi Vijayan handed over the copy of the first volume of the book on Malayalam film history to Shri Shaji N Karun, national award winning film director. In his inaugural speech,the chief minister elaborated on how International Film Festival of Kerala has increased the international acceptance of Kerala through demonstrating finesse when it comes to making films that contain themes that are culturalyy and politically elegant.

Numerous eminent personalities from the film industry and politics and a good chunk of commoners gathered at the venue to witness the memorable event. Kadakampalli Surendran (Minister for Tourism), Ramachandran Kadanapally (Minister for ports), Kamal (Chairman of Chalachitra Acadamy), Khairy Beshara (Egyptian director and Chairman of the Jury), Shaji N Karun (director) and Anaswara Rajan (Actress) were few of the important guests. Turkish film maker  Sarhat Karaaslan's 'Passed by Censor' was screened as the opening film following the event.

The film festival was slated from the 6th December to 13th December. Fourteen theaters that spread around the heart of Trivandrum were chosen to be the venues for screening the movies. Of the one hundred eighty six films that were lined up for the festival from seventy three different countries, there were twenty five films from Indian filmmakers . All of them were spanning across fifteen categories. Among the Indian films, fourteen of them belonged to Malayalam film industry.
Click this link to watch the signature film
The 'Signature film' of this year created by Joshy Benedict, a short animated sketch that illustrates the love for the International Film Festival of Kerala among movie afficionados, gained widespread acclaim. Apart from the screening of movies, other cultural events were also organized every day like Open Forums and Meet the press which were conducted on the vicinity of some of the theaters where many other ad hoc cultural events also took place. The audience were able to interact with the filmmakers through lectures and conversations held at various sites. 

The competitions section of IFFK is limited to films from Asia, Africa, and Latin America.  Fourteen films were screened for International competition. 'Aru Sendo no Hanashi' (titled in English as 'They Say Nothing Stays The Same') by Jō Odagiri from Japan was awarded The Suvarna Chakoram (Golden Crow Pheasant) prize for the best film. Rajatha Chakoram (Silver Crow Pheasant) prize for the best director was won by Brazilian film maker Allan Deberton for 'Paquerette'. The Audience prize for the best film was awarded to the Malayalam movie 'Jallikettu', directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery. Rajatha Chakoram (Silver Crow Pheasant) prize for the best debut director was won by Cesar Diaz from Guatemala  for 'Nuestros Madres'.

A grandiose award-giving ceremony concluded the film festival on 13th December at Nishagandhi auditorium.

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