THE WORLD PORTAL

14TH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF KERALA

God’s own country, Kerala is today witnessing an international film festival. The ‘14th International Film Festival of Kerala’ will be held at Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala from 11th to 18th December 2009. The festival is jointly organized by the state-run Kerala State Chalachitra Academy and the ministry of culture. The famous filmmaker Mrinal Sen will inaugurate this festival. In this eight-day-long film extravaganza, 164 films in 11 categories will be screened and there will be more than 500 shows. In the competition section, 14 films including two Malayalam films “Pazhassiraja” and “Kerala cafe” would be screened. A special film titled “The Women in Malayalam Cinema” which is based on some memorable female characters featured in Malayalam films will also be screened in this festival. Films on Madhavikutty, Sobhana Parameswaran Nair, Murali, Rajan P. Dev, K.P. Thomas and Adoor Bhavani will be screened in the homage section.The famous Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi is the chairperson of the jury and Sri Lankan Director Prasanna Withrarenge, Congolese filmmaker Balufu, Indian film maker Mamtha Sanker and Egyptian Director Al Khalisi are other jury members. Famous Bollywood Actress Sharmila Tagore and French Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont will be the chief guests at the inaugural function. This festival honor Mrinal Sen with ‘Life Time Achievement award’ and also honors Oscar winning sound editor and designer Resul Pookutty. Another pecularity of this edition of the festival is there are special sections of Cuban, French and African films and seats can be reserved through SMS. The prize of this festival is also amazing. The best film would receive a golden peacock and a cash prize of Rs ten lakh. The director of the winning film, debutant director, the director of the best film selected by the viewers would receive a silver peacock and Rs three, Rs two and Rs one lakh respectively. So get ready for watching this amazing festival.

INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF KERALA (IFFK)

The International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) is one of the important film festivals of India, which held annually in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. This film festival was started in 1996, and it is organized by the state-run Kerala State Chalachitra Academy and the ministry of culture. The films produced from Asia, Africa and Latin America are competing in this festival, and it has a special section on Malayalam films. Contemporary World Cinema, New Malayalam Cinema, Retrospectives of Major filmmakers, Homage and Tributes, Contemporary Indian Cinema, Short films and Documentaries are screened during this film festival. Film Market and Seminars on important issues are also conducted in this festival. ‘The Golden Crow Pheasant Award’, ‘The Silver Crow Pheasant Award’, ‘Best Debut Film Award’, ‘Audience Prize’, ‘FIPRESCI Award’, ‘Netpac Award’ is the awards given in this festival. Malayalam film industry is famous for its story oriented movies and many Malayalam movies won awards in various film festivals. So a film festival like ‘International Film Festival of Kerala’ is a great success in Kerala.

33RD CAIRO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

It is the season of film festivals and all movie lovers are very busy to watching these film festivals. The ‘33rd Cairo International Film Festival’ will be held between 10th to 20th November 2009 in Cario, Egypt. Cairo International Film Festival(CIFF) is the oldest and most important festival in the middle east. The ‘33rd Cairo International Film Festival’ will take place under the presidency of the actor Dr Ezzat Abou Ouf and the honorary President the international super star Omar Sharif. This festival is attracting more international stars and specifically Hollywood stars like Nicolas Cage, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Bud Spencer, Gina Lollobrigida, Ornella Mutti, Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale, Victoria Abril, Elizabeth Taylor etc. Three important film makers Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Victor Okhai and Nour El Sherif will head the Juries of this festival. This year CIFF, invited the new generation of brilliant filmmakers from India by honoring Indian Cinema. Bollywood film ‘New York’ will be the opening film of this festival and this film will also be featured in the ‘In Competition’ section. A Tamil feature film ‘Achchamundu! Achchamundu!’ and another Indian feature film ‘Saluun’ will also be screening in this festival. So get ready for watching this amazing film festival, which takes place in the home of the Pyramids and Nile.

CAIRO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Cairo International Film Festival(CIFF) is the oldest and most important festival in the middle east. It is held in every year in Cairo, Egypt. It was started in 1976 by the Egyptian Association of Film Writers and Critics, headed by Kamal El-Mallakh. In 1985, this festival became an independent organization under the leadership of the eminent play writer Saad El-Din Wahba who was appointed by the Minister of Culture.This festival featured around 100 films from 33 countries, with 14 movies from 14 different countries in competition. Cairo Film Festival’s popularity increased year after year, and it attract not only filmmakers and critics but also attract writers, intellectuals and other artists.