IFFK: No clear favourites for top award

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As the 23rd edition of IFFK draws to a close on Thursday, the organizers are partly relieved that curtains will fall on the festival without the usual din and a fair amount of controversy.
A major hiccup faced by the organizers was the failure in projection at Tagore theatre on Saturday forcing them to cancel all shows.
Lack of annual maintenance contract made matters worse as the team assigned to handling film print had to probe all possible ways to ensure that the component which got damaged was shipped from Mumbai at least by Tuesday so that the show could be resumed.
The finance team had to even go to a cash deposit machine to transfer the money required for payment of the component as everything had to be done by Sunday to ensure that the product reach here by Monday.
The hartal in Thiruvananthapuram also threatened to disrupt the festival, however delegates turned up as usual and none of the screenings were cancelled.
With over 4,000 unsold passes, the delegates for this edition of the festival mainly comprised film scholars and avid film buffs who did not mind shelling out Rs 2,000 for the pass.
The audience poll for choosing the best out of competition films began on Wednesday. The polling would conclude by Thursday 5pm.
Unlike previous years, this year has not thrown up visible favourites among the competition films. Luis Ortega’s movie ‘El Angel’ based on the life of a serial killer was received with a huge round of applause from the audience.
The festival featured over 160 films from 72 countries. 11 packages of films including ‘The Human Spirit: Films on Hope and Rebuilding’ which reflects the efforts of overcoming struggles, were screened as part of the festival.
The category included six films: Jayaraj’s ‘Vellapokkathil’, Mel Gibson’s ‘Apocalypto’, Benh Zeitlin’s ‘Beasts of The Southern Wind’, Fisher Steven’s ‘Before The Flood’, Justin Chadwick’s ‘Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom’, and Wim Wenders’s ‘Pope Francis: A Man of His Word’.
Two Malayalam films–‘Ee. Ma. Yau.’, and ‘Sudani from Nigeria’, were part of the competition section.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the concluding ceremony.