Curtains come down on IFFK

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 15 (UNI) The curtains came down today on the week-long International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK 2006), which showcased over 200 films from around the world.

The festival, entering its eleventh year, already has a reputation both at home and abroad. More than 5, 000 delegates took part.

The film festival, which coincided with the 50th anniversary of Kerala State Formation Day, got off to a glittering start with the veterans of Malayalam film industry, who began their career in the first decade of 'Keralapiravi' (state formation), lighting the lamps.

Fifty lamps were lit to mark the golden jubilee of the formation of the state.

Belgium Director and Actress Marion Hansel's French film 'Sounds of Sand', which tells the tale of exodus, survival and hope, opened the IFFK-2006.

All the 14 films in the competition section from Asia, Africa and Latin America were well received by the audience. Santiago Loza's Four Women Barefoot (Argentina), Abu Sayeed's Forever Flows ( Bangladesh), T V Chandran's Adum Koothu (Tamil) and Asghar farhadi's Fireworks Wednesday (Iran), were among the 14 films in the competition section.

The jury was headed by Palestine director Elia Suleiman, with British had Actress Julie Christie, South African Director Darrell James Roodt and Actor-Director Revathy.

The cine lovers were introduced to 42 films from Asian, African, Latin American and European countries in the world section. Girish Kasaravalli's Naayi Neralu (In the Shadow of the Dog), Rituparno Ghosh's 'Dosar' (The Companion), Chitra Palekar's 'Maati Maay' (Grave Keeper's Tale) were among the seven films that were screened in the Indian Cinema Section. In the Malayalam Cinema Section, eight films were shown.

The festival also showcased films of Abbderrahmane Sissako and Albert Dupontel in the contemporary masters section which had a good viewership.

Cine lovers were also introduced to all the films of Dada Saheb Phalke Award winner Adoor Gopalakrishnan in the retrospective section. This section also included works of world renowned Brazilian director Glauber Rocha and French director Louis Malle.

Films from South Africa, early Iranian Films, Arabian documentaries, French comedies and short films from Spain were included in the Country focus section, which also had a wide range of viewers.

Another attraction this year was the Diploma Films from the Film and TV Institute of India (Pune) and the Satyajit Ray Film and TV Institute (Kolkata).

The festival also paid homage to Swedish Cinematographer Sven Nykvist, Malayalam Director Pavithran and Malayalam Actress Srividya.

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