KOCHI: The largest film carnival in the state is just two months away. For the past three years, the Kerala Chalachitra Academy has had to dodge a plethora of curveballs to conduct the much-loved International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK). Misfortunes came in myriad forms.
For the council chaired by filmmaker Kamal, pulling the academy through turbulent times and conducting the film festival with elan have been a mammoth task. The council completed its tenure of three years in August and but it was extended.
As the council gears up to step into the next term, it has high hopes of realising the biggest of its dreams, to set up a complex dedicated for the film festival.
“A dedicated festival complex has been our dream. Although funding has been approved, the challenge is in getting the land. We need a minimum of five acres to set up the complex. It will then be a hub for movies and will develop into a cultural space. Efforts are on towards this and the dream is to conduct at least one festival in our term at this complex,” said Kamal.
The IFFK in the first year of the present council’s term saw a controversy surrounding the playing of National Anthem before the screening of films during the festival.
“There were arrests, personal attacks and protests. But we managed. Then came cyclone Ockhi in the second year. We conducted the festival sans any cultural programmes but without compromising on the quality of the films or the festival. And last year, the flood-hit us. That was a huge challenge. There was no funding,” recalled Kamal.
But the academy sailed through on a shoe-string budget, using its own funding, with sponsorship and hiking up the delegate fees.
“The repercussions will be huge in international circuits if we miss out on conducting the festival even for a year. The greatest support was received from the delegates. Private theatres rented out their theatres at 40 per cent rate and government theatres were offered for free. All these helped us. We hope to conduct the festival in a good manner this year too,” he said.
The council also stressed on promoting touring talkies and school talkies. “We ensure that each district is covered under this. Similarly, school talkies are also an aspect which we have given focus to. This is for the young film enthusiasts who cannot come for the IFFK,” said Kamal.
For the past one year, the academy has been operating from Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA) premises and pioneering several initiatives, according to Kamal. An encyclopedia of Malayalam movies is getting ready.
“Information regarding all movies released in Malayalam is being collected and documented. It will be an encyclopedia on Malayalam cinema. The first volume will be released during the 24th IFFK,” said Kamal.
Archiving and documenting of the Malayalam cinema are being carried out. “Almost 98 per cent of the Malayalam cinema has been documented. We are also digitising old Malayalam movies,” he said. Old posters, music books and photographs are all being collected. “Work has also started on a book titled ‘Who is Who’,” said Kamal.