THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two Malayalam films, ‘Manhole,’ directed by debutant Vidhu Vincent and ‘Kaadu Pookkunna Neram’ by Dr Biju, will be screened in the competition section of the 21st International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK). The festival, being organised by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy on behalf of the Cultural Affairs Department, Government of Kerala, will be held from December 9 to 16 in Thiruvananthapuram. Bengali film ‘Chitrokar,’ directed by Saibal Mitra and Assamese film ‘Midnight Keteki,’ directed by Santwana Bardoloi are the other two Indian films that made it to the competition.
As per the decision of the executive committee of the Chalachitra Academy, the grant for the nine Malayalam films, selected in the competition and Malayalam Cinema Today sections of the festival, has been increased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.
The films included in the Malayalam Cinema Today section are ‘Aaradi’ by Saji Palamel Sreedharan, ‘Godsay’ by Sherrey Govindan/Shyju Govind, ‘Ka Bodyscapes’ by Jayan Cherian, ‘Kammatipaadam’ by Rajeev Ravi, ‘Kismath’ by Shanavas Bavakutty, ‘Mohavalayam’ by T V Chandran and ‘Veeram’ by Jayaraj.
The films included in the Indian Cinema Now section of IFFK are: ‘Bhaapaa Ki Bhayakatha’ by Paresh Mokashi (Hindi), ‘Harikatha Prasanga’ by Ananya Kasaravalli (Kannada), ‘Lady of the Lake’ by Paban Kumar Haobam (Manipuri), ‘Onaatah’ by Pradip Kurbah (Khaasi), ‘Revelations’ by Vijay Jayapal (Tamil), ‘Kaasav’ by Sunil Sukthankar/Sumitra Bhave (Marathi) and ‘Merku Thodarchi Malai’ by Lenin Bharathi (Tamil).
The films in the Malayalam Cinema Today section were selected by a committee consisting of Sekhar Das, Leena Manimekalai, Latika Padgoankar, G P Ramachandran and Damodar Prasad. The committee for the selection of Indian films includes K R Mohanan, Madhupal, Fowzia Fathima, K Manojkumar and Rajiv Vijayaraghavan.