Amit V Masurkar's feature film Newton portrays the story of a general election conducted in the Naxalite jungles of central India.The third day of the 22nd International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) will showcase eight flicks in the International Competition category. The films of the day vying for the top honors comprise Grain, Newton, White Bridge, Candelaria, Garden of Desire, Dark Wind, Pomegranate Orchard, Wajib.
Grain, directed by Semih Kaplanoglu, and Newton, by Amit V Masurkar, will be screened at the Kairali theatre. Grain, a sci-fi drama, inspired from a chapter from Quran, is a post-apocalyptic story filmed on three continents. This Turkish film looks at the distant future of the mind through the mirrors of magic, mystery, and migration.
Amit V Masurkar's feature film Newton portrays the story of a general election conducted in the Naxalite jungles of central India. Newton, a government clerk played by Rajkummar Rao, is determined to do his duty amid trying circumstances.
White BridgeThe laurels and accolades in the credit of Newton include the nomination for Best Film in International Competition of Berlin International Film Festival 2017, nomination for best film in International Competition at Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema 2017, nomination for Best International Feature Film of Edinburgh International Film Festival 2017, Jury Prize for Young Cinema at the Hong Kong International Film Festival 2017 and so on.
The Iranian film White Bridge, directed by Ali Ghavitan, portrays the story of Bahareh, who is suspended from school after being disabled in an accident. The laws prevent her from returning to regular school and thereby forcing her to go to special school. Bahareh and her mother fight to overcome this situation. Kairali theatre will host the screening of these films.
Garden of Desire (Aedan)The Tagore theater has lined up for competition with Jhonny Hendrix's Candelaria, Sanju Surendran’s Aedan and Nila Madhab Panda’s Dark Wind. A long-married old couple rekindles their lost romance with a video camera in the 1990s Cuba, the most troubled times of its history. Candelaria takes us to a world of facts and fantasy in parallel with the subtle and realistic movements of camera lens.
Aedan, (Garden of Desire) is a kaleidoscope of two lonely characters with visions of love and death. They find pleasure in a curious game. The film is a folk tale in its elemental qualities and evocation of eternal human passions - lust, passion, envy, and rage. It is a story within a story, a tradition of Indian epics. The stories attempt a microscopic examination of the human mind.
Kadvi Hawa or Dark Wind by Nila Madhab Panda, is about the effects of climate change and scanty rainfall in a Rajasthan village. The story is plotted through the life of a blind farmer who in an unfortunate situation strikes a deal with the debt recovery agent.
Pomegranate OrchardPomegranate Orchard and Wajib will be screened at Dhanya theatre. Azerbaijan filmmaker Ilgar Najaf's Pomegranate Orchard is a drama played out against a picturesque backdrop of pomegranate plantations. The movie is an adaptation of Anton Chekov's The Cherry Orchard.
An urban road movie set and shot among the Arab community of Israel, Wajib affirms the long-standing bonds of family and community and dad-son relationship. This comedy-drama of flimsy family-community ties is directed by Annemarie Jacir.
Of the four Indian movies lined up for International Competition, three will be shown on Sunday. These films of multifarious themes from all regions, of varied geography and distances, are a much awaited lot and audiences are expected to queue up in large numbers for their screening.
