THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Reminiscing the film society movement in the state, the Open Forum of the 20th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) was held on the topic ‘Fifty Years of Film Society Movement’ on Wednesday. Filmmaker K P Kumaran, who spoke on the occasion, said though film society movement in the state had early hiccups and its growth was negligible compared to similar movements in other fields, it was successful in bringing out a radical change in the film sector on the whole.
“The inception of film society movement could be seen closely associated with the socio-political background of the state. A huge political churning was happening then. During those times, modernism in literature was on a high and a huge canvassing was carried out towards adding membership to the film society movement in government offices. When the movement was growing in strength in the capital, in parallel, similar movements were taking place in Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kottayam districts,” said Kumaran. Critic George Mathew said the film society movement spread in four phases. In the first place, it created a good awareness among the masses. The 1970s saw the arrival of good film critics and filmmakers who took inspiration from the movement and now its implications are witnessed in the 20th edition of IFFK. In his opinion, finding what’s next lies ahead.
Cherian Joseph, who spoke on the occasion, emphasised the need to have regional international film festivals. “In Thrissur, we conduct a similar festival. Screenings are held across 18 centres. And hence regional participation is high. Rather than spending funds over each single movie, it is better to buy rights of movies for a particular period of time and screen,” he pointed out.
G P Ramachandran and K R Mohanan also spoke. The discussion was moderated by film critic V K Joseph.