50 films in IFFT
The fifth International Film Festival of Thrissur (IFFT), which begins at the venues of Goergettan’s Ragam and Elite International Auditorium on Friday (January 9), will screen nearly 50 films, including a collection of classics, contemporary films and documentaries.
Feature films will be screened at Georgettan’s Ragam theatre, while documentaries are screened at Elite International Auditorium. The five-day festival is the second largest film festival in Kerala; the largest is in Thiruvananthapuram.
The Contemporary World Cinema section will include Wayne Wang’s A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (U.S.), Sergei Dvortsevoy’s Tulpan (Kazhakhstan), Laurent Cantet’s The Class (France), Carlos Reygadas’ Silent Light (Mexico), Nadine Labaki’s Caramel (Lebanon) and Juan Antonio Bayona’s The Orphanage (Mexico).
In the Indian session, films by renowned directors Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Girish Kasaravalli (Gulabi Talkies), K.P. Kumaran (Aakashagopuram) and T.V. Chandran (Vilapangalkkappuram) will be screened. The festival will pay tribute to late Egyptian director Youssef Chahine by screening his films; An Egyptian Story, The Land and New York. Chahine, whose films criticized political oppression and Islamic extremism in Egypt, died last year.
‘Masters and Classics’, ‘Children’s films’, ‘Young films’, ‘Beyond Universe’, 'Folk waves' and ‘Contemporary World Films’ are the major sessions in the fest. Films from various film institutes have been included in the ‘Young films’ package. The ‘Beyond Universe’ package includes Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, a 1968 science fiction.
A retrospective of the works of Manipuri filmmaker Aribam Shyam Sharma (Sanabi and Ishanou) will be screened. Aribam Shyam Sharma and Sri Lankan director Prasanna Vithanage are expected to take part in the festival, which will also feature seminars, painting, exhibitions and lectures on cinema.
