TIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Come Friday and the city is all set to keep its date with a grand film fete-the International Documentary and Short Film Festival (IDSFFK). The five-day film festivities will kick start with ‘Human Flow’, a documentary by Ai Weiwei which delves on the theme of the refugee crisis.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the film feast organised by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy. With an eclectic set of movies, panel discussions, interactive sessions, and open forums, this year’s IDSFFK is all set to enthral the film buffs.
This year’s IDSFFK has a few firsts. It will be the first time that a Lifetime Achievement Award has been instituted. This year’s award goes to noted filmmaker Anand Patwardhan. Moreover, the best long documentary selected at the fest will be included in the entries to be nominated for Oscars in the non-fiction category. As many as 64 films are selected for the competition which includes long and short documentaries and campus films.13 music videos and animation films will also be screened, which will be screened in 3 theatres Kairali, Sree and Nila.
“Technological enhancement has always brought a drastic change in the film world which is evident from the documentaries and short films screened at the festivals. Specialisation gives way to an array of theme-centric movies and an improvement can be felt every time of the festival,” said noted editor and vice-chairperson of Chalachithra Academy Bina Paul. She expressed her happiness in this inclusion of the lifetime achievement award.
This year has seen a rise in the number of registrations and in all 1,200 delegates have already registered.
The jury for the fiction category comprises Kavitha Lankesh, Amir Masoud Soheili, and Mahesh Narayanan while that of the non-fiction comprises Raed Andoni, Paromita Vohra and Amudhan R P.
Going the ‘organic’ way
This year, the IDSFFK has shunned the use of plastic ID cards and has opted to go the ‘jute’ way. Instead of using plastic, the ID cards have been crafted from jute.
Special screenings
Special screenings of Jazeer Thekkekara’s musical short fiction film ‘Opportunity’ and K R Manoj’s ‘Work of Fire’ will be held at the fest on July 21and 22 respectively.
‘Human Flow’ to be the opening film
‘Human Flow’ by Ai Weiwei which traces the biggest human displacement since World War II is the opening film at the fest. Shot across 23 countries, the 145 minute-long documentary captures the global refugee crisis the world is grappling with.