THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Noted Bengali actor Madhabi Mukherjee will be the chief guest at the 22nd edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) which will be held here from December 8 to 15. Russian filmmaker Alexander Sokurov will be presented with this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award, said Chalachitra Academy chairman Kamal at the news conference here on Monday.
A retrospective of Sokurov’s six films will be held at the festival. Besides, retrospectives of Philippine director Lino Brocka and noted Malayalam film maker K P Kumaran’s films will be featured.
Films will be featured across various categories at the festival. In the Contemporary Master in Focus category, movies of Mexican film director Michel Franco and Chad film director Mahamat Saleh Haroun will be featured.
Two Malayalam films in Int’l Competition category
The Malayalam films of two debutant directors have found a place in the International Competition category. Prem Shankar’s ‘Randuper’ and Sanju Surendran’s ‘Aedan’ will be competing in the International category along with two Indian films; Newton and Village Rockstars.In the Malayalam Cinema Today category, the movies ‘Take off’, ‘Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum’, ‘Karutha Joothan’, ‘Angamali Diaries’, ‘Maravi’, ‘Athishayangalude Venal’ and ‘Nayinte Hridayam’ will be featured.
The Indian Cinema Today categoiry will feature seven films. Paying tribute to film legends, the Homage category will screen movies of directors Kundan Shah, K R Mohanan, I V Sasi and Om Puri.
The festival will include movies from other categories like Identity and Space, Contemporary Asian Cinema, Japanese Animation, Restored Classics and Jury Films.The festival will be held across 14 theatres.The fee for delegates is priced at Rs 650 and for students at Rs 350. Entry will be restricted to the number of seats in each theatre.
There will be 8000 seats in 14 theatres and only 10,000 delegate passes will be issued this year. In the general category 7000 passes will be allotted. Students and film and television professionals will be given 1000 passes. Besides, 500 media passes and 50 passes for film society members will be issued.
The delegate registration will begin on November 10. The dates for each category are as follows:
Students- November 10 to 12; General category- November 13 to 15; Film and Television Professionals- November 16 to 18; Film Societies- November 19 to 21; Media- November 22 to 24. Those who register under each category will have to pay the delegate fee within the prescribed closing day of that category. Those who have registered last year can use their existing user name and password. The fee can be paid online and at Akshaya centres.
Delegates aged 70 and above will not be required to stand in the queue. The delegate cell will start functioning at the Academy office at Sasthamangalam on November 10.Vice chairperson Bina Paul and secretary Mahesh Panju were also present at the news conference .