The International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), organised by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, which was scheduled to take place in December 2021, has been postponed to February 2022. Kerala state Culture Minister Saji Cherian announced that the 26th edition of the IFFK will be held next year from February 4 to 11.
He also noted that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the festival at Nishagandhi Auditorium in Thiruvananthapuram. The inaugural ceremony will begin at 6:30 pm on February 4. The eight-day festival will take place in around 12 theatres in Thiruvananthapuram, he added.
The minister also announced that the 13th edition of the International Documentary Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK) will be held from December 9 to 14 at four screens in the Aries Plex SL Cinemas complex. The chief minister will inaugurate the festival on December 9. The IDSFFK which was scheduled for July 2020 could not take place due to the pandemic. And this year’s fest too had to be postponed since theatres in the state were closed until recently.
IDSFFK has put out a list of short films and documentaries that will be screened under various categories at the festival this year.
IFFK, on the other hand, has already announced the films selected for screening under the categories Indian Cinema Now and Malayalam Cinema Today.
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The 25th edition of IFFK, which took place in February 2021, was organised in four phases in four regions (Thiruvananthapuram, Palakkad, Thalassery and Kochi) to reduce crowding in the capital city during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to a report in The Hindu, while this move garnered criticism from political leaders and social media groups, the fest organised in different parts of Kerala got a good reception and also attracted new sets of audiences.
Officials at the Chalachitra Academy had, however, clarified that it was just a makeshift arrangement due to the Covid-19 situation in the state and added that Thiruvananthapuram would remain the permanent location for the festival. The 26th edition will be held in the state capital.