Thiruvananthapuram: The organizers of the 21st International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) on Friday released the list of 18 Indian films in four categories, that will be screened at the festival which will take place here from December 9-16.
The selection was made by a panel of experts and it includes two Malayalam films Manhole, directed by debutant Vidhu Vincent and Kaadu Pookkunna Neram by Biju, which will compete in the international section.
The other two films that will compete for international honours are Saibal Mitra's Bengali film Chitrokar (The Last Mural) and Santwana Bardoloi's Assamese film Midnight Keteki.
There are seven Malayalam films in the Malayalam Cinema category and another seven films from other Indian languages in the Indian Cinema category.
The Malayalam films are: Aaradi (Saji Palamel Sreedharan), Godsay (Sherrey Govindan/Shyju Govind), KaBodyscapes (Jayan Cherian), Kammatipaadam (Rajeev Ravi), Kismath (Shanavas Bavakutty), Mohavalayam (T. V. Chandran), Veeram (Jayaraj).
The films selected to the Indian Cinema Now section are: Bhaapaa Ki Bhayakatha (Paresh Mokashi/Hindi), Chronicles of Hari / Harikatha Prasanga (Ananya Kasaravalli/Kannada), Lady of the Lake (Paban Kumar Haobam/Manipuri), Onaatah (Pradip Kurbah/Khaasi), Revelations (Vijay Jayapal/Tamil), Turtle / Kaasav (SunilSukthankar/Sumitra Bhave/Marathi), Western Ghats / Merku Thodarchi Malai (Lenin Bharathi/Tamil).
Malayalam film jury comprised of Sekhar Das, Leena Manimekalai, Latika Padgoankar, G.P. Ramachandran, and Damodar Prasad. The jury that picked the Indian films included K.R. Mohanan, Madhupal, Fow zia Fathima, K. Manojkumar and Rajiv Vijayaraghavan.
The organizers have decided to double the grant to Malayalam Films selected for the IFFK to Rs 200,000 and has set up a special cell at the IFFK to promote these films.
Over the years IFFK, which is staged soon after the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, has become a popular gala. The festival is organized by Kerala State Chalachitra Academy (KSCA) for the state-run Cultural Affairs department.
(With agency inputs)
