15th Iffk concludes

The 15th International Film Festival of Kerala,(IFFK) was held at different venues in Thiruvananthapuram,Kerala,from December 10 to 17,2010. The 15th IFFK was formally inaugurated on December 10 at a grand inaugural ceremony held at the Nishagandhi open-air auditorium. The Kerala Chief Minister V.S.Achuthanandan inaugurated the festival,with actress Waheeda Rehman as the chief guest. Acclaimed German filmmaker Werner Herzog was honoured with an award for lifetime achievement,which was presented to him by the Chief Minister. Jnanpith recipient poet-lyricist ONV Kurup was honoured at the opening ceremony,which ended with the screening of the Iranian film Please Don’t Disturb.

207 films were screened in 16 different categories at 10 venues. Apart from the Competition Films,the World Cinema section films,the Indian Cinema Now section films and the Malayalam Cinema Today movie,there were films screened under the Contemporary Masters in Focus section (which included films by Werner Herzog,Oliver Assayas,Maria Novaro and Apichatpong Weerasuthakal),the Fassbinder Retrospective section, the Homage Films,T.V. Chandran retrospective etc. Films were also screened paying homage to Malayalam film personalities who passed away recently,including Mankada Ravi Varma,Gireesh Puthencherry,Cochin Haneefa,Venu Nagavally,Sreenath,M.G.Radhakrishnan and Adoor Pankajam.

The Colombian film Portraits In A Sea Of Lies,directed by Carlos Gaviria,bagged the Golden Crow Pheasant Award (Suvarna Chakoram) while the Silver Crow Pheasant Award (Rajata Chakoram) for the best director was awarded to Argentinian director Julia Solomonoff for her film The Last Summer Of La Boyita. The Silver Crow Pheasant Award for the best debut film went to Belma Bas’ Turkish film Zephyr. The audience award went to A Japanese Wife,directed by Aparna Sen.

Story continues below this ad

The NETPAC (Network for Promotion of Asian Film Centre) award for the best Asian film went to the Indian film I Am Afiya Megha Abhimanyu Omar directed by Onir Anirban,while Veettilekkulla Vazhi,directed by Dr. Biju,was adjudged the best Malayalam film. Tunisian film Buried Secrets,directed by Raja Amari,won the award instituted by FIPRESCIwhile the FIPRESCI award for the best Malayalam film went to Makaramanju,directed by Lenin Rajendran. The Hassankutty Award for the best Indian Debut Film was won by Chithra Suthram directed by Vipin Vijay.

The 15th IFFK came to a close with a closing ceremony,which was as grand as the opening ceremony. Maniratnam and Suhasini Maniratnam were the chief guests while Kerala Minister for Cultural Affairs M.A.Baby gave away the awards.