Focus on women filmmakers makes a political point

A scene from ‘I am Still Here’ directed by Walter Salles, the opening film of the 29th IFFK.

A window to the world can have a spotless clean glass, showing things as it is, or a tinted one, obscuring or distorting our perception of things. If annual film festivals were to be considered as such windows to the contemporary world, the things that a festival’s curatorial team chooses to showcase and the ones that they choose to ignore tells us a lot about the worldview that is sought to be conveyed to the audience.

At a time when some major film festivals in the country have been in the news, both for the things that they kept out as well as the not so charitable things that they showcased, the 29th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), just like its past editions, is making all the right noises ahead of its opening on Friday.

‘Female Gaze’

Right on top among this is the focus on women filmmakers, with 52 out of the 177 films at the festival this year directed by women, including those who have made their films through the Kerala government-funded programme to promote women filmmakers as well as a special package of films titled ‘Female Gaze’. The festival jury will also be headed by a woman – French cinematographer Agnes Godard and the IFFK Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui, the first woman to be chosen for that award. This focus appears apt in a year in which Malayalam cinema witnessed a major shake-up after the release of the K. Hema Committee report, following tireless efforts of the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC).

Opening film I’m Still Here

The opening film I’m Still Here, directed by Walter Salles (Motorcycle Diaries, Central Station), on a woman’s search for her husband, a dissenter disappeared under the military dictatorship in the 1970s Brazil, is also expected to set the political tone of the festival. The inclusion of the Palestinian film The Teacher also shows the festival’s unwavering stand on the occupied territory. The decision to present the Spirit of Cinema Award to Payal Kapadia, the Grand Prix winner at the Cannes for the partly-Malayalam film All We Imagine as Light as well as a key figure in the FTII protests of 2015, also makes a political point. Especially considering how the all-man selection committee for India’s Oscar entry found the film “not Indian enough”.

The IFFK this year will have a retrospective of South Korean filmmaker Hong Sang Soo, who redefined the term prolific by making 30 films in 29 years, including two this year. Among the other contemporary masters whose films are to be showcased this year are Olivier Assayas, Jacques Audiard, Jia Zhangke and Miguel Gomes. The festival favourites package will certainly witness much demand considering the acclaim they have already won at major festivals. Armenia will be the country in focus in the hundredth year of Armenian cinema, with a package of films and discussions on the country’s film heritage at the Open Forum.

The competition section looks quite formidable. The audience will also get the first look at some of the exciting new voices in Malayalam and Indian cinema, while the restored classics will bring back in pristine glory seven yesteryear films. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the festival at a function to be held at the Nishagandhi auditorium on Friday.