The second day of the 14th International Film Festival of Kerala saw a huge turnout of delegates from across the State and the country.
The near-full cinema theatres in the morning became houseful by noon and long serpentine queues were formed in front of the theatres by evening.
The metal detectors and checking personal bags of the delegates post 26/11, that had caused a lot of confusion in the 13th IFFK was totally done away with this year.
Among the 41 films screened on Friday at the festival, the biggest crowd was for the ‘Invisible Waves’ and ‘Last Life in the Universe’ by contemporary Thai film-maker Penek Ratnaruang, ‘Broken Embraces’ by Pedro Almodovar, Scheherazade and ‘Tell Me a Story’ by Yousry Nasrallah.
The film ‘Tales from the Golden Age’ has the audience in splits with its characteristic satire on the final 15 years of the Ceausescu regime in Romania, which is touted as the Golden Age by the propaganda machine. The film combined several true stories to portray an era when food was more important than money, freedom more important than love and survival more important than principles.
Penek Ratanaruang’s Last Life in the Universe, a surrealistic meditation on life, death and alienation was appreciated by many, so was the brilliant imagery of Invisible Waves by Christopher Doyle, under the direction of Penek Ratanaruang. The script of ‘Three Wise Men’ by Mika Kaurismaki had the audience in their grip even though the setting was dull and dark.
Earlier in the day, an exhibition of photographs on the ‘Women in Malayalam Cinema’ was inaugurated by Sharmila Tagore at Kanakakkunnu Palace.
The function was graced by leading women actors of different generations like KPAC Lalitha, Menaka, Anandavally, Sona Nair and Navya Nair.
The highlights at the IFFK on Sunday would be the Cuban films, Abbas Kiarostami’s latest film ‘Shirin’, ‘My Secret Sky’ by Madoda Ncayiyana, The Blessing by Heidi Maria Faisst, ‘Bad Day to go Fishing’ by Alvaro Brechner and Fishing Platform from Indonesia.