After being postponed several times, the 26th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), organized by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, will be held in Thiruvananthapuram from March 18 to 25, 2022, Kerala state Culture Minister Saji Cherian announced on Friday.
The festival was first planned to be held in December 2021. However, it was pushed to February 2022 owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. The event was then postponed indefinitely due to a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in the state.
The minister said that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the festival at Nishagandhi Auditorium in Thiruvananthapuram. The inaugural ceremony will begin at 6 pm on March 18. The eight-day festival will take place in around 14 theatres in Thiruvananthapuram, he added.
In this edition of IFFK, around 180 films will be screened across 14 cinema halls. The regular categories of films include Asian, African and Latin American. In addition, this year’s event will also have categories like World Cinema, Malayalam Cinema Today, Indian Cinema and Tribute to Masters. IFFK has already announced the films selected for screening under the Indian Cinema Now and Malayalam Cinema Today categories. Some of the shortlisted films are Tamil film Koozhangal, Be Ches Ne Veth (Hindi/Kashmiri) and Malayalam films Nishiddho and Avasavyooham.
The event will also have a retrospective session in memory of late veteran Malayalam actor Nedumudi Venu that will serve as a tribute to him and his contribution to cinema.
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The Minister added that one of the highlights of this year’s festival will be the feature films from conflict zones across the world like Afghanistan, Myanmar and Kurdistan. The Fipresci Critics Week segment will screen films that have won Fipresci awards in the last two years.
The 25th edition of IFFK which took place in February 2021, was organised in four phases in four regions (Thiruvananthapuram, Palakkad, Thalassery and Kochi), in a first, to reduce crowding in the capital city during the pandemic. However, the officials at the Chalachitra Academy had clarified that it was just a temporary arrangement and added that the 26th edition will be held in Thiruvananthapuram.