THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The 30th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) is facing a bizarre crisis with the Centre refusing to issue censor-exemption certificates to 19 films, including four from Palestine, scheduled to be screened at the event.
The withholding of clearances has invited rebuke from various corners, with a slew of socio-political and cultural leaders, including CPM general secretary M A Baby, and veteran filmmakers Adoor Gopalakrishnan and T V Chandran criticising the Union information and broadcasting ministry’s decision.
With no censor exemption, at least seven films which were scheduled to be screened over the last two days, and eight movies set for Tuesday will have to be cancelled, Chalachithra Academy officials said.
Entries selected for a film festival should either have a censor certificate or a censor-exemption document issued by the ministry.
While academy officials say they had sought approval for the 180-odd films that were proposed to be screened at the festival, permits for only 164 films were provided, that too in phases. The Palestinian flicks include this year’s opening film ‘Palestine 36’; ‘Wajib’, which won the Golden Crow Pheasant at the 2017 IFFK; ‘All That’s Left Of You’; and, ‘Once Upon A Time in Gaza’. Notably, the Israeli production ‘The Sea’, which depicts the journey of a Palestinian child, was given clearance.
Some of the other films facing uncertainty at IFFK include ‘Timbuktu’ by Abderrahmane Sissako, who won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the festival this year, Spanish film ‘Beef’, Sri Lankan film ‘Riverstone’, Argentinean film ‘The Hour of the Furnaces’, and the 100-year-old Soviet classic ‘Battleship Potemkin’.
M A Baby termed the move part of the Sangh parivar agenda to sabotage the festival. “This action of the I&B ministry, which functions under Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, is a reflection of the neo-fascist tendencies we have been seeing,” he said. Calling on all film lovers to condemn the move, Baby said that preventing the screening of the classic ‘Battleship Potemkin’ reveals the dictatorial nature of these leaders.
Adoor Gopalakrishnan said that officials are not even properly informed about these films.
“The title ‘Beef’ doesn’t mean that the film promotes consuming cow meat. I have seen many of these films, and I do not see any reason to deny certificates to them,” he said.