THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The much-hyped pride of the state - the 19th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) - is now running by throwing away all the promises made by the state government earlier.
Though Cinema Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan had said that the IFFK would get a new face by implementing the recommendations in the study report submitted by the Adoor Gopalakrishnan panel, none of the suggestions has turned into reality.
The first deviation occurred regarding the number of movies selected for the fete. As per the recommendations, for the smooth running of the fest, a total of 120 movies should be screened. However, as many as 142 movies have been selected.
Another change was that though the committee had recommended giving importance to filmmakers, film-media students, media professionals, film society professionals and film distributors at the festival, the major crowd seen at the venues are none of the above. Moreover, the crowd of delegates is uncontrollable at all the venues. Though the organisers had taken steps to implement the reservation system, as mentioned in the study report, the attempt ended up in failure as the website used for the online seat booking met with a technical failure. According to the festival director and Kerala State Chalachitra Academy chairman T Rajeevnath, the problem developed as the servers of the website located in Europe crashed. Following this, the delegates now have to stand in long queues to enter the theatres.
At every theatre, the queues are being formed at least one hour prior to the shows. So that, unlike earlier years, the delegates fail to watch consecutive shows as they are running to ensure seats by standing in the queues. The common scene at almost all the venues is that of the delegates competing with each other to enter the halls.
Though the Adoor panel had recommended that delegates should never be allowed to sit on the floor or stand behind the seats during the screening, this suggestion too is not being followed.
In fact, all the movies are screened in fully-packed halls, with delegates sitting on the floors also. During some screenings, the doors are kept open owing to the crowding of the delegates.
The volunteers appointed at the entrances of theatres are also worsening the situation as they are apparently untrained.