At IFFK 2025 curtain-raiser, spotlight on resilience and the festival’s impact on Malayalam cinema Latest Entertainment News

Back in 2022, an inspiring act of resilience played out during the inaugural ceremony of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK). Halfway into the ceremony, the survivor in the actor assault case walked in, making her first public appearance in five years, a day after announcing her return to Malayalam cinema following a hiatus caused by the shocking incident. The crowd, taken by surprise, stood up and roared in applause.

At IFFK 2025 curtain-raiser, spotlight on resilience and the festival’s role in Malayalam cinema

It was an occasion in keeping with the festival’s history of being a platform for resistance and resilience. Three years later, when the 30th edition of the festival gets under way on Friday, the actor assault case is yet again in the spotlight, with the incident now intrinsically linked to all discussions on Malayalam cinema. At the delegate cell inauguration on Thursday too, the attendees including the office-bearers of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy were fielding more questions on the case verdict than on the festival. Unlike film festivals which have a rarefied existence, larger events in the outside society have often seeped into the IFFK’s discussion forums.

IFFK’s impact on Malayalam cinema

At a time when Malayalam cinema is the centre of attention across the country for its inventive themes, the role played by the IFFK in that change over the last three decades of its existence is sometimes reduced to a footnote. In recent years, we have witnessed an increase in the number of young homegrown filmmakers who have grown up watching the IFFK coming back to showcase their own films at the festival. This year’s edition is no different.

The delegates have a wide variety of 206 films from 82 countries spread across 26 categories to choose from over the next week. The inaugural film Palestine 36, Annemarie Jacir’s historical narrative on the 1936 Palestinian uprising against British imperialism and Zionism, will set the tone for the festival. It is part of the package ‘From Under The Olive Tree’, consisting of four films from Palestine, including Once Upon a Time in Gaza and All That’s Left of You.

The IFFK will honour Mauritanian filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissakko with the Lifetime Achievement Award, and screenings of his five major works including Timbuktu, Black Tea and Bamako. The retrospective section will feature some of the remarkable films of Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine to mark his birth centenary. Indonesian filmmaker Garin Nugroho will be the Contemporary Filmmaker in Focus, with screenings of five of his films.

Films to look forward to

Among the much awaited films which have been talked about highly in the festival circuit this year are Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, Park Chan-wok’s No Other Choice, Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, Pedro Almodóvar’s Sirat, Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent, Fatih Akin’s Amrum, Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother, Radu Jude’s Kontinental 25, Lav Diaz’s Magellan, Dardenne Brothers’ Young Mothers, Lynne Ramsay’s Die My love, Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, Mary Bronstein’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Christian Petzold’s Miroirs No. 3 and Hong Sang-soo’s What Does That Nature Say to You.

To mark the 50th year of Vietnam’s victory against the United States forces, the festival will feature five Vietnamese films including The Tree House (2019), Cu Li Never Cries (2024), Glorious Ashes (2022), Once Upon a Love Story (2024) and Don’t Cry, Butterfly (2024).