Kerala film festival mired in controversy

KOZHIKODE, APRIL 6: Controversy seems to have become the middle name of the ongoing fifth International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK 2000...

KOZHIKODE, APRIL 6: Controversy seems to have become the middle name of the ongoing fifth International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK 2000). Initially, tempers flared when Derek Malcolm, film critic with The Guardian’ and president of the International Film Critics’ Federation (FIPRESCI) requested Malayalam filmmaker Shaji N Karun, who is also the festival director, to withdraw his film Vaanaprastham’ from the Competition Section.

“It’s a conflict of interest and can mar the decision of the jury, since you’re so indebted to their hospitality,” said Malcolm of his comment. Karun, however, has refused to withdraw his film which stars Malayalam megastar Mohanlal and was India’s official entry for the Cannes Film Festival, 1999, on the grounds that there are no guidelines stating that a film cannot compete in a festival of which the filmmaker is the director.

Considering Karun’s film was dropped from the Competition section of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in January 2000, it makes the director all the more determined to try for the Suvarna Chakoram award at IFFK, which carries a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh. “It’s a problem because most festival directors and members of the jury are also film directors,” admits Malcolm, who has now firmly stated that the FIPRESCI jury will not consider Vaanaprastham’ for the big award.

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The jury for the IFFK 2000, however, has remained silent on the issue, thoughits chairman, Marco Muller, who is a former director of the Locarno FilmFestival and a film producer, admits he would never enter a “film I produce in the competition section of a festival of which I am director.”

That’s not all. Debutant Malayalam director Murali Nair’s Maranasimhasanam’, which won the Camera D’Or at Cannes 1999, and the Golden Conch at the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) for Short, Animation and Documentary films in February 2000, ran into trouble with the audience when it was screened yesterday. “It shows the people of Kerala in a bad light, and exaggerates its political nature,” said a disgusted film enthusiast.

Maransimhasanam’ is a satire about a poor man who is condemned to death for a murder he did not commit. Through death he becomes a martyr, since he is the first man to be “honoured” by death on a newly acquired electric chair. Additionally, a section of the jury raised doubts about the inclusion of the film in the competition section, since it is only 60 minutes, and a criterion for selection is that a full-length feature has to be at least 70 minutes long.

“In view of the international acclaim it has won, Maransimhasanam’ has been included in the competition section, and we will bend guidelines for all such films in the future,” explained an IFFK spokesman.

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Even as IFFK 2000 comes to an end this Friday, there have been allegationsfrom the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the local BJPunit, that it is a “politicised” festival, and most of the nearly 4,000 delegate passes have been handed out to CPM workers.