The film Gods will descend on the city in T minus 2 weeks. Our festival’s 13th edition opens in Trivandrum on December 12th for full 8 days.

This year holds a lot of promise because personally I haven’t heard of any of the movies coming to town. That is the beauty of this festival. In 2002, I heard of Kaurismaki, Majid Majidi and Makmalbaf for the first time. In 2007, it was Almodovar, Jiri Menzel and those fine filmmakers from Iran, Americas and China. 2008 I hope will be another year in discovery.

International Film Festival of Kerala 2007 raised the stature of the festival to a totally different level with its vast scale and quality movies. More than the number of movies screened which makes the India International a distant second, it was the discerning audience and the orgainsation of the festival which took the world classics right to the people. IFFK must be the lettered people’s festival

Highlights of last year include the Almodovar Retro, Bergman homage, Zhang Yang’s Luo Ye Gui Gen (Getting Home), Abdullah Oguz’s Bliss, Cristian Mungiu’s (Cannes winner) 4 Luni, 3 Saptamini Si 2 Zile, Hana Makhmalbaf’s Buddha collapsed In shame , and Lucia Puenzo’s Argentinan flick XXY which took the coveted US$ 20,000 Golden Pheasant. If the audience had a say Getting Home or Bliss would have won. I mean, there was a jury.

The year 2008 has been a good year for Malayalam cinema as well, with Malayalam films literally dominiating the Indian Panorama at India International(IFFI) in Goa. Almost all those movies happen to be in the list of movies to be screened in Trivandrum.

Highlights include Fernando Birri Retro, Alain Resnais Retro and Amos Gitai Retro, and Homage to Yousiffe Chahine, Jules Dassin, Bharat Gopi, and K.T.Mohammad. The malayalam film maker in focus will be the much loved artist Bharatan.

So if you happen to be in town, the 13th edition of IFFK will be held at Thiruvananthapuram from 12th – 19th December 2008. Mark your calendar!

Got my goodies and the photo Id in the morning before the morning show at Kalabhavan.The film festival has grown in the recent years, but this 12^th International is “Godzillian” by standards.

The schedule booklet that comes with the delegate pass is 320 pages big, its kind of an almanac of cinema for the recent years (and its free!) .From 4 theatres back in ’02 now we have 9 theatres including New, Dhanya-Remya and Ajantha. The number of movies screened has gone up from 40 odd movies to 230. And if this second Saturday of the month is anything to go by, the delegate participation is huge with almost all shows hoarding a house-full board.

The icing on the rumor cake is that Goa had 3000+ delegates for India International and Trivandrum has 8000+ delegates for Kerala International. The hype might wane in the working week, but surely a tremendous start.

My movies of the day:

9 AM, Kalabhavan, Jiri Menzel Retro

Snowdrop festival/Slavnosti Snezenek
(Czechoslovakia/Czech/83’/1984)
dir:Jiri menzel

It’s a jolly movie. It’s set in

11: 30 AM, Kalabhavan, Pedro Almodovar Retro

All about my mother
(Spain /France/Spanish / Catalan / English/101’ /1999)
dir: Pedro almodovar

If another FMF tells you that there is nothing called good cinema, you could show Pedro Almodovar’s “All about my mother” and say “this is! This is Good cinema”. The Oscar winning Spanish movie stands out in three aspects; Emotions – there is every possible emotion running through the 101 minutes; its Brave – crammed in it, are some very basic fears like death and the movie faces it with maturity; Colorful – like Spanish culture, like fiesta, the movie is collage of contrast. Every shot resembles a painting, Cecila Roth and Penelope Cruz wear red overcoats (I repeat “Penelope Cruz in a red overcoat”!) against a dry background. Even the poorest of neighborhoods look like a Picasso painting. Almodovar is seriously good and the festival has his biggest collection ever screened in India.  “All about my mother” – FIVE STARS. Movie repeats Thursday 9 AM at New Theatre.

3 PM, Kripa, World Section

Pan’s Labyrinth
Dir:guilermo tel Torro
Mexico/spanish/110mins/2006

Pan’s Labyrinth is the goriest movie I have seen in the recent past. Half of the audience had their eyes half closed for half of the time. I didn’t close my eyes. Promise. I remember skipping this movie when it released in the US, thinking it was “potteresque” fantasy. The movie is raw and imaginative. It does not console you for a second; you have to face it. The three Academy Awards it won last March just adds to the luster. Definite watch!

Today’s Misses: “4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days” – the Cannes winner. Ajanta was houseful and I’m hearing folks stood and watched the movie. But “All about my mother” was worth the time.
P.S : IFFK Schedule is available for download here

 The International Film Festival of Kerala is a yearly event organised by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy on behalf of the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala. The 12th edition of IFFK will be held at Thiruvananthapuram from 7th – 14th December 2007.

Other than IFFK Competition, the other major highlights are,

Retrospective : Jiri Menzel (7 movies)  and Pedro Almodovar (13 movies)

and homage category including Ingmar Bergman, Michelangelo Antonioni and C.V. Sreeraman.

IFFK Competition 

1. Teeth of Love/Ai Qing de Ya Chi(db)
    Dir. Zhuang Yuxin
    (China/Chinese/114 mins/35mm/2007)
2. Suely in the sky/o Cue de Suely
    Dir. Karim ainouz
    (Brazil/Portuguese/110 mins/35mm/2007)
3. El Rey de San Gregorio
    Dir. Alfonso Gazitua
    (Chile/spanish/35mm/2006)
4. Turtle family/Familia Tortuga(db)
    Dir. Ruben Imaz
    (Mexico/spanish/136 mins/35mm/2007)
5. The Old garden
    Im Sang Soo
    (South korea, Korean/112 mins/35mm/colour/2006)

6. 10+4/Das be alaveh Chahar(db)
    Dir. Mania akbari
    (Iran/Farsi/77 mins/35mm/2007)
7. XXY/XXY(db)
    Dir. Lucia Puenzo
    (Argentina/Spanish/90 mins/35mm/Apr-07)

8. Sleepwalking Land/Terra somnambula(db)
    Dir. Teressa Prata
    (Portugal,Mozambique/Portuguese,Xangana/103mins/2006)
9. Casket for hire/Ataul for Rent
    Dir.     Neal buboy Tan
    (Philipines/Tagalog/93 mins/35mm/2007)
10. Getting Home/Luo Ye Gui Gen
    Dir. Zhang Yang
    (Hongkong, China/Chinese/97 mins/35mm/2007)

11. Bliss/Mutluluk
    Dir. Abdullah Oguz
    (Turkey/Turkish/105 mins/35mm/2007)
12. Lord! Let the Devil Steal my Soul/Probhu noshto Hoi Jai(db)
    Dir. Agnidev Chatterjee
    (India/Bengali/100 mins/35mm/2007)
13. Four Women/Naalu Pennungal
    Dir. Adoor gopalakrishnan
    (India/Malayalam/105 mins/35mm/2007)
14. Paradesi/English
    Dir. P.T. Kunhi muhhammed
    (India/Malayalam/134 mins/35mm/2007)

Indian Cinema Today

1. Doosra/Doosra
Anand subramaniam
(India/Hindi/114 mins/2006)
2. Gandhi, My father
Feroze Khan
(India/English/122 mins/2007)
3. Manorama-Six Feet under/ Manorama-Six Feet under
Navdeep singh
(India/Hindi/2007)
4. Restaurant/Restaurant
Sachin Kundalkar
(India/Marathi/2006)
5. Zero Zone/Shoonya
Arindam Mitra
(India/Hindi/2006)
6. 68 pages/68 pages
Sridhar rangayan
(India/Hindi/92 mins/2007)

7. Staying Alive
Anant Mahadevan
(India/Hindi/2007)
New Malayalam Cinema
1. AKG/AKG
Shaji N. Karun
(India/Malayalam/2007)
2. Kayyoppu/Kayyoppu
Ranjith
(India/Malayalam/2006)
3. Notebook/Notebook
Rosshan Andrews
(India/Malayalam/2006)
4. The Sea within/Ore kadal
Shyamaprasad
(India/Malayalam/2007)
5. Rathri Mazha
Lenin Rajendran
(India/Malayalam/110mins/2007)
6. Thakarachenda/Thakarachenda
Avira rebecca
(India/Malayalam/99mins/2006)
7. Thaniye
Babu Thiruvalla
(India/Malayalam/2006)
8. Unni/Unni
Murali Nair
(India, france/Malayalam/82 mins/2007)

World Section

1. Ballroom Dancing
Dir:Claudio Antonini
switzerland,germany/Italian/80 mins/2007

2. Chris/Chrigu
Dir:Jan Gassmann, Christian Ziorjen
Turkey/Swissgerman/Jan-07

3. The International//Beynelmilel
Dir:Muharrem Gulmez, Sirri Sureyya Onder
Italy,France/Turkish/2006

4. My Brother is an Only Child
Dir:Dannielle Luchetti
Romania/Italian/100 mins/2007

5. 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days//4 Luni, 3 Saptamini Si 2 Zile
Dir:Cristian Mungiu
colombia/Romanian/2007

6 A ton of luck/Sonar no cuesta Nada
Dir:Rodrigo Triana
Denmark/96 mins/2007

7. After the wedding/Efter bryllupet
Dir:Susane Bier
Russia/Danish/120 mins/2007

8. Alexandra/Aleksandra
Dir:Alexander Sokhurov
Brazil/Russian/90’/35mm/Colour/2007

9. And Along come tourists/Am Ende Kommen Touristen
Dir:Robert Thalheim
Brazil/german/85 mins/2007

10. Azure and Asmar
Dir:Michel Ocilet
Poland/French/99 mins/2006

11. Because of Love/Z milosci
Dir:Leszek Wosiewicz
Netherlands – Germany – Belgium/Polish/98’/2007

12. Blind/Blind
Dir:Tamar van Den Dop
Greece/Greek/98 mins/2006

13. Brides/Nyfes
Dir::Pantelis Voulgaris
Greece/Greek/128’/2004

14. Buddha collapsed In shame
Iran/Farsi/81 min/2007
dir:Hana MakhmALBAF

15. California Dreaming/nesfarsit
Romania/Romanian/155 mins/2007
Dir:Christian Nemescu

16. Calle Santa Fe
Dir:Carmen Castillo
Chile / France / Belgium/Spanish/163’/2007

17. Cobrador In god We Trust/
Dir:Paul Leduc
Mexico/Spanish/92 mins/2006

18. Crossing the dust/Parinawa la Ghobar
Dir:Shawkat A. Korki
Iraq, Kurdistan//74 mins/Nov-06

19. Curse of the Golden Flower/Man cheng jin dai huang jin jia
Dir:Zhang Yimou
Honk Kong-China/Mandarin/114/2006

20. Daratt/Dry Season
Dir:Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
France- Belgium-Chad/Arabic/96’/2006

21. Emotional arithmetic/
Dir:Paolo Barzan
Canada/English/90 mins/2007

22. Father/Otel
Dir:Ivan Solovov
Russia/Russian/100mins/2007

23. Fishdreams/Sonhos de Peixe
Dir:Kirill Michanovsky
Brazil, Russia, USA/Portuguese/110 mins/2006

24. Flanders
Dir::Bruno Dumont
France/French/91’/2005

25. Flight of the red balloon/
Dir:Hou Hsiao Hsien
France/French/133 mins/2007

26. foriegnor/Extranjera
Dir:Ines de oliviera Cesar
Argentina, Greece Poland/spanish/2007

27. Garage
Dir::Lenny Abrahamson
Ireland/Uk/Irish/95 mins/2007

28. Glory to the filmmaker
Dir:Takeshi Kitano
Japan/Japanese/102 mins/2007

29. Goodbye Bafana
Dir:Bille Auguste
Philippines/English – Xhosa/140’/2007

30. I was a Swiss Banker/I was a Swiss Banker
Dir:Thomas Imbach
Switzerland/eng/swis/danish/swedish/romanic/turkish/2007

31. Lives of Others/Das Leben der Anderen
Dir::Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Germany/German/137’/2006

32. Lost in Beijing
Dir:Li yu
China,/Chinese/112 mins/2007

33. Maroa
Dir::Solveig hoogesstein
Venezuela,Spain/Spanish/102 mins/2006

34. Me Myself/Koh Hai Ruk Jong Jareun
Dir:Pongpat Wachirabunjong
Thailand/Thai/117 mins/2007

35. Meisie
Dir:Daryl Roodt
South africa/Africaans/80 mins/2007

36. Monkeys in Winter/
Dir:Milena andanova
Bulgaria,Estonia/111mins/2006

37. Mourning Forest/Mogari no Mori
Dir:Naomi Kawase
France-Japan/French/97’/2007

38. Night Train/Ye che
Dir:Diao Yi Nan
China, hongkong, USA, France/94 mins/2007

39. Not Here To be Loved/Je ne suis pas là pour être aimé
Dir:Stephane Brize
France/French/93’/2005

40. Pan’s Labyrinth
Dir:guilermo tel Torro
Mexico/spanish/110mins/2006

41. Ploy
Dir:Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
Thailand/Thai/107 mins/2006

42. Road to Guantanamo.
Dir:Mat Whitecross, Michael Winterbottom
UK/English-Urdu/95 min/2006

43. Silent Light/Stellet Licht
Dir:Carlos Reygadas
Mexico/Dutch/127 mins/2007

44. Shadows/Senki
Dir:Milcho Manchevski
Greece/Macedonian/120 mins/2007

45. Sistagod
Dir:Yao Ramesar
Trinidad and Tobago/English/72’/2006

46. Syndromes and a Century/Sang Sattawat
Dir:Apichat pong weerasethakul
Thailand/Thai/105mins/2006

47. The Art of Crying//Kunsten at græde i kor
Dir:Peter Schonau Fog
Denmark/Danish/106’/2006

48 The Banishment/Izgnanie
Dir:Andrey Zvyagintsev
Russia/Russian/150 mins/May-07

49. The Boss of It All//Direktören för det hele
Dir:Lars Von Trier
Holland/Danish/99’/35mm/Color/2006
50. The Grocer’s son/Le fils de L’epicier
Dir:Eric Guirado
France/french/96 mins/2006

51 The Home song stories
Dir:Tony aires
Australia/99 mins/2007

52. The International/Beynelmilel
Dir:Sirri Sureyya Onder and Muharremgulmez
Turkey/Turkish/106 mins/2006

53. The Lark House/La Masseria Delle Allodole
Dir:Paolo Taviani, Vitorio Tavian
Italy-France-Bulgaria-Spain//Italian/122’/2007

54. The lives of Others/Der Leben Der Anderen
Dir:Florian henckel Von Donnersmarck
Germany/German/137 mins/2006

55. The Man From London
Dir:Bela Tarr
Hungary, germany, france/Hungarian/135”/2006

56. The rind/La cascara
Dir:Carlos ameglio
Uruguay, spain, argentina/spanish/105 mins/2006

57. The unfinished/Ravayathaye Natamam
Dir:Pourya azarbaijani
Iran/Farsi/76 mins/2007

58. Treseta/
Dir:Drazen Zarkovic,Pavao Marinkovic
Bratislavia,crotia/serbo croatian/112 mins/2007

59. UPA- One argentinian film/Une Pelicula argentina
Dir:Tamae Garateguy, Santiago Giralt, Camila Toker
Argentina/Spaniish/100 mins/2007

60. What I Know About Lola/Lo que sé de Lola
Dir:Javier Rebollo
France-Spain/French / Spanish/112’/35mm/Color/2006

61. www.what a wonderful world/www.what a wonderful world
Dir:Faouzi Bensaidi
France, morrocco/French, arabic/90 mins/Scope/DTS digital/Jun-05

62. Chaos
Dir:youssef chahine
Egypt/arabic/122mins/2007

65. Time
Dir:Kim Ki Duc
South Korea/Korean/126 mins/2006

66. Changement of address/Change of address
Dir: Emmanuel Mouret
France/French/85”/2007

Full list of movies here at the Chalachitra site