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.