THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Indian premiere of ‘Ariyippu’ (Declaration), by award-winning director Mahesh Narayanan, was well received on Day 2 of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK). The movie was screened at Tagore theatre, the main venue of the festival, in front of a packed audience.
The lead actors, Kunchako Boban and Divya Prabha, were present. The 107-minute movie tells the story of a couple working in a medical gloves factory near New Delhi who dream of migrating abroad. Their lives however take a turn for the worse when an old video clip surfaces.
Though Kunchako as Hareesh is very convincing, Divya, who plays Reshmi, steals the show with her intense yet subtle portrayal. The story dwells on how the development impacts Reshmi’s personal and professional life.
In a post-screening Q&A, Mahesh said the story was inspired by a news article published in the DNA about a woman banker who had to face such a situation. He said the issues of the pandemic overlapped with the news article that made this film happen. Ariyippu will stream on Netflix from December 16.
The centenary screening of F W Murnau’s much-acclaimed silent horror film ‘Nosferatu’, with accompanying live piano music by British musician Jonny Best, was also a crowd puller. The German Expressionist film was the first screen adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel ‘Dracula’.
Good turnout
Though the first show at the Tagore theatre was slated to begin at 9am, delegates started gathering at the venue from 7.30am. By 8.30am, a serpentine queue had formed on the theatre premises. Movie lovers were spotted carrying the popular film festival goodies and engaging in serious discussions, seemingly unmindful of the rising mercury levels. The newly renovated venues, Kairali, Sree, and Nila, also saw a good turnout.A large number of students from various campuses thronged the venues.
Day 3 of IFFK
IFFK will screen an engrossing 64 movies under various categories, including four international competition movies, on day three of the 27th edition of the fest. The international competition movies include Alejandro Loayza Grisi’s ‘Utama’, Tunisian movie ‘Alam’ by Firas Khoury, ‘Convenience Store’ by Michael Borodin and ‘Concerned Citizen’ by Idan Haguel. Directed by Costa Rican filmmaker Valentina Maurel, ‘I Have Electric Dreams’ explores the mercurial relationship between an artist and her 16-year-old daughter. The movie will be screened at Ajanta theatre at 8:15pm. ‘Vaishali’ will be screened at Nila theatre at 11:30am as an homage to Atlas Ramachandran .
Three Serbian movies including ‘The Beheading of St John the Baptist’ and ‘As Far As I Can Walk’ are slated to be screened in the ‘Country Focus’ category. Jonny Best’s live music for the film ‘The Parson’s Widow’ will be one of the highlights of the day. The film will be screened at Tagore theatre at 6.15pm.
French movie ‘120 BPM’ by Robin Campillo, which won the ‘Grand Prix’ at the 2017 Cannes film festival, will be screened at the Ariesplex-screen 6 theatre at 2.30pm. ‘My Neighbor Adolf’ by Leon Prudovsky, which explores the nature of animosity, will be screened at Kalabhavan theatre at 9pm. Five Malayalam movies including ‘The Quarrel’ and ‘Yes’ will be screened in the Malayalam ‘Cinema Today’ category.