Sudani from Nigeria director Zakariya on how the IFFK has influenced him

As the 25th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (

IFFK

) gets set to kick off in Thiruvananthapuram tomorrow, writer-director Zakariya spoke about how the festival had influenced his journey as a film-maker. The director of the superhit feel-good film Sudani from Nigeria, which won the Fipresci award at the 23rd edition, spoke about how he always left the festival with fresh ideas.

In a video post that was shared on the IFFK social media handle, Zakariya said, “I consider the IFFK my personal festival. It has influenced my cinema studies, because till I was in Class 12, I had probably seen three or four films on the big screen.”

He said that he first went to the festival in 2005 on a student pass. “The first films that I appreciated on a large canvas were the films that I saw at the IFFK. Here, I began to see films from different countries and different cultures. After each festival, I left with a new movie thread or a new narrative style in my mind,” he said, adding that he had missed out on only a couple of festivals since he first started going because of date clashes with his own shoot.

“The festival also has a great fraternity of film buffs that meet at the venues, such as Tagore and Kairali theatres. The IFFK needs to make a place for itself among the best film festivals in the world; I hope it earns this position,” said the director, whose latest project is the script for Dubai-based film Momo in Dubai, directed by Ameen Aslam.