THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The three filmy hotspots of the city - Kairali, Sree, Nila - have been draped in festive splendour for the past four days. On Tuesday, the yearly movie fest moves into the last day with a vibrant set of short films. The closing ceremony will have Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan as the chief guest. Cultural Affairs minister A K Balan will preside over the function.
As many as 206 films from 36 countries were showcased at the 11th edition of the fest. Apart from screening socially and politically relevant movies, the fest was witness to engaging talks. The assassination of renowned journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh, issues such as censorship, freedom of speech and expression were criticised at the fest.
Films from Iran, Palestine and Sri Lanka were well received by the audience. The festival also witnessed the coming together of various filmmakers in support of #withher campaign. The delegates announced their solidarity with writer Hareesh who received threats for his latest novel “Meesha”. The festival was attended by noted personalities such as Anand Patwardhan, Kavitha Lankesh, Amir Masoud Soheili and Sameera Jain. The valedictory will be held in Kairali theatre at 6.30 pm.
The concluding day will screen 23 films. Three music videos and a documentary by Anand Patwardhan will also be screened. ‘You can destroy the body’, ‘We are not your monkeys’, ‘Prisoners of conscience’, and ‘Ribbons for peace’ are the works of Patwardhan that will be screened in the ‘Rebel With A Cause’ category. Under the International category, 10 films will be screened.