Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 7 (PTI) Battered by cycloneOckhi, Kerala will forgo the inaugural ceremony of its megafilm festival which opens here tomorrow, organisers said.
The 22nd edition of the International Film Festival ofKerala (IFFK) will open with the French-Lebanese film, "TheInsult", which explores the lives of refugees in Arabcountries.
The festival will begin on a quiet note without theopening ceremony as the southern state is yet to recover fromthe cyclone which hit the Kerala coast last week, claiming 36lives and causing widespread damage.
Directed by Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri, the openingfilm bagged the Volpi Cup at the Venice International FilmFestival and would be screened tomorrow evening, marking thestart of the festival, organising body Kerala Film Academysaid.
Bengali actress Madhabi Mukherjee, the star of SatyajitRay's 1964 film "Charulata", and South Indian actor PrakashRaj are expected to attend the first screening.
The Kerala government had yesterday said thecontroversial Malayalam movie "S Durga" would be screened atthe festival if it got a clearance from the Kerala high court.
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) hadcancelled the certification of the film on November 28.
The film's producer and director have challenged thesuspension of the certificate in the Kerala High Court.
According to the Academy, 190 films from 65 countrieswould be screened at the one week-long gala.
The competition section includes 14 films, of which twoare in Malayalam.
Films will be shown in 20 different categories such as'Indian Cinema Today', 'Malayalam Films Today', 'ContemporaryMasters in Focus', 'Retrospective' and 'Identity and Space'.
This year, films from Brazil will be the 'Country Focus'.
Six films curated by film scholar Stefan Solomon will beexhibited in this section, Academy sources said.
The festival would screen the films of 35 women directorsunder various categories and these would focus on the subjectof 'Being Woman'.
Four of the 14 films in the 'International Competition'section have been made by women.
Rima Das is the only woman director in the 'IndianCinema Now' section.
In the 'Uprooted: Films on identity and space' category,Geethu MohandasÂ’s film "Liar's Dice" will be screened.
Bengali award-winning filmmaker Aparna Sen, who willdeliver the Aravindan Memorial lecture, will also screen herlatest feature film "Sonata", which is about three unmarriedwomen living in a metropolis.
Marco Mueller, who was festival director at variousinternational film festivals, is the jury chairman of IFFKthis year.
Filmmakers T V Chandran, Colombian actor Marlon Moreno,French editor Mary Stephen and African cinema scholar and filmcritic Aboubakar Sanogo are also on the jury.
The festival will pay homage to cinema personalitiesK R Mohanan, I V Sasi, Kundan Shah and Om Puri, who died thisyear, and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
A total of 8,848 seats have been arranged in varioustheatres in the town for the festival, which would conclude onDecember 15, Academy sources added. PTI LGK JRK SSBDS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.