Jayaraj: The response to MACTA's online women’s film festival was inspiring

With the pandemic protocols in place, most of the premier international film festivals - in Cannes and Venice, for example - went online and several decided against organising this year’s edition, but when it came up for discussion, the Malayalam Cine Technicians Association (MACTA) decided to go ahead with the second edition of its MACTA Women’s International Film Festival (MWIFF).The festival, being held online, started on Friday and ends on November 8.
Speaking about deciding to take on the challenge, MACTA chairman and filmmaker Jayaraj said, “The last festival had been well received, and when there was a discussion about whether to hold it and the overwhelming feeling was that we should. And once we invited filmmakers, the response was heartening and inspiring.”
There are 18 films being screened over the three day festival, with a variety of films from the US, Europe and India. The Language Focus is on Turkish films, with seven films in the language. The opening film, a family drama titled Bilmemek, is award winning Turkish director Leyla Yılmaz’s second feature. The festival films look at various topics from love to sexuality, race politics and ageism. “We received a good response on the website for delegate passes. We are also holding an online panel discussion,” says Jayaraj. The panel discussion was held with film personalities MT Vasudevan Nair, Resul Pookutty Deedi Damodaran, writers Benyamin, Susmesh Chandroth and Tanuja Bhattathiri on Cinema and Literature.