Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

Film festival gets off to a grand start

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM March 29. In a simple but elegant function, the Seventh International Film Festival of Kerala-2002 (IFFK 2002) was inaugurated by the veteran film actress, Aranmula Ponnamma, here this evening.

For the next seven days, the city will host the festival, which is a window to world cinema. The organisers are adding new dimensions to financial management by hosting the festival with a budget, which was cut by 40 per cent.

The cream of world cinema, including the Hungarian film-maker, Martha Mezaros, the German director, Reinhart Hauff, the Sri Lankan director, Tissa Abeysekhara, the critic, Derek Malcolm, and a host of others have responded to the invitation of the Chalachitra Academy chairman, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, to make the festival a prestigious event.

According to Mr. Gopalakrishnan, he had to face a lot of deterrents, including the "stigma of Third World Country". Established distributors turned a deaf ear to his request to send prints. Some of them charged high rentals and some even scoffed at his pleas, he said.

Had these distributors been present here today, they would have been compelled to change their opinion about the festival, he added.

The Culture Minister, G. Karthikeyan, in his presidential address, traced the evolution of cinema in Kerala. If drama was once the vehicle of political change in the State, now cinema has taken over the position.

He said there was considerable technological advancement too. But for the giant strides made by some directors like Mr. Gopalakrishnan, Malayalam cinema had a lot to learn from Tamil Nadu which has a more professional film-making culture, Mr.Karthikeyan said.

He said cinema should be a weapon for change. Tamil cinema could boast of a `Roja', `Bombay' and `Kannathil Muthamittal'.

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