THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For people like me, IFFK is a festival. Earlier, when it was said that the festival will not be organised, we were crestfallen. It is not Onam or Christmas which evokes celebratory sentiments amongst us, but it is this yearly film tradition. This, for us, is the festival.
We see IFFK as a meeting point, and this time, many familiar faces have gone missing. The hike in the price of the delegate pass has affected a large majority of film enthusiasts. I hope that next year, it will be held like earlier editions, which will aid in the participation of more cinephiles.
This time too, the festival lived up to its expectation, with a good package of movies. Though the participation was less this year, the brighter side was that it was possible to watch a lot of good movies as the crowd was smaller. On an average, I could see five movies per day and the movies have left a lasting impression. That is how it is, every year, we take back some good movies with us. I remember the first movie I watched. At that time, I hadn't taken any pass, in fact, I had decided to check it out seeing the maddening rush. I managed to get in with a tag, and the movie I watched was The Return. That changed everything and the movie has left deep imprints. Movies such as Yomeddine, Cold War and Roma also made a mark.
I can never ever forget the movie Capernaum which was screened this time. These are movies that will stay with us for years to come. For instance, Capernaum is a movie from which film students can learn a lot. IFFK is my film school. For me, it is film festivals that have taught everything about movies. I have never been to any film schools, and it was these film festivals that remained the source of inspiration and fuelled my passion and moulded me into a movie maker. For that, I am extremely indebted to the Academy for having organised such a festival.
But there were low moments at the festival as well. I was looking forward to watching Majid Majidi's movie Muhammad: The Messenger of God. It is sad what happened. It is not just the world cinema, but this time there were several Malayalam movies that provided much hope. Amongst movies from here, movies such as Udalazham, Bilathikuzhal, and Sleeplessly Yours stood apart and had an element of freshness to it. A perceptible change could be seen in the movie making fraternity here. And that is a welcome change.
We have had these festivals for quite long, and as it moves into the next edition, I hope the festival is redesigned. We have to give more importance to festival marketing now. It is high time we develop a festival market, a way in which we market our movies outside, in the global arena. We have to ensure that good movies made from our land are being screened in other festivals and the Academy can take an initiative for that.