THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The fourth day of the 22nd International Film Festival of Kerala will see six films being screened in the International Competition category. As many as 68 films will be screened at the festival on Monday.Candelaria and Wajib are being screened at Kairali, while Returnee, Malila- The Farewell lover and The World of Which We Dream Doesn’t Exist will be screened at Tagore theatre.
Candelaria directed by Johnny Hendrix tells the life of Candelaria (64) and Victor Hugo (63), a couple who stay together out of inertia. Their life takes a surprising turn the day Candelaria finds a camcorder. With this, they look at each other, caress each other and love each other once again. But this unexpected happiness, sweet as it is, is only the beginning of the end. Ayoub Qanir’s film The World of Which We Dream Doesn’t Exist visits several generations of a family living in Khuvsgul on the Mongolian steppe. As one follows each family member through their daily duties and private moments, the audience is acquainted with events taking place on another plane of existence, parallel to, yet removed from the world of the living.
Wajib directed by Annemarie Jacir is a funny, heartwarming film that explores the themes of alienation, the importance of familial ties and relationships. Set in contemporary Nazareth, most of the film is devoted to the relationship between Abu Shadi and his architect-son Shadi as they go around the town distributing invitations for the wedding of Abu’s daughter.
Anucha Boonyawatana in his film ‘Malila- The farewell Lover’ is a visual exploration of the life of a couple combined with a traditional Thai Bai Sri art and Buddhist philosophy. Nila Madhab Panda’s Dark Wind (Kadvi Hawa) is typically based on the true stories from the drought-prone Bundelkhand region and the vanishing villages of coastal Odisha. Dark Wind is a wake-up call for a world still unprepared to face the consequences of their actions, while climate change becomes a reality for millions of people.
Sabit Kurmanbekov’s returnee is the story of a Kazakh family, which in the 30s fled from the red terror to Afghanistan and after a long time received the long-awaited quota for resettlement in Kazakhstan.
Of the films shown on Monday, 34 will be screened in the World Cinema section. Six films will be screened in the Contemporary Film Maker in Focus, two in the Uprooted section, five in India Cinema Now, two in Malayalam Cinema Today and one in Country focus sections. When three films will be shown in the retrospective section, a film each will be screened in the Jury Films, Homage and Restored Classics sections.