THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As part of belt-tightening in the floods’ aftermath, a proposal to stage a less expensive edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) this year is under the government’s active consideration, Cultural Affairs Minister A K Balan said here on Saturday.
“The Chalachitra Academy has submitted a proposal to organise the 23rd edition of the festival at half the cost of the previous edition which cost the exchequer Rs 6 crore. A final decision on this will be taken upon the Chief Minister’s return,” he said.
A hike in the delegate registration fees and steps to minimise expenses by doing away with extravaganza and cash prizes are part of the academy’s proposals. While Rs 2 crore will be raised from delegate pass `1 crore will be met from the Plan Fund for the academy.However, the minister said the slashed budget will not affect the festival’s quality. Inexpensive preparatory works are already under way.
The academy had earlier suspended works related to the festival after the General Administration Department (GAD) banned government-funded festivals and celebrations, including the film festival and state school arts festival, in the floods’ wake.
But later, the government decided to conduct the school arts festival avoiding extravaganza. Several prominent persons, including auteur Adoor Gopalakrishnan and celebrated South Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-duk, had appealed to the government to stage the film festival.