Highlights of the 12th IFFK

Contemporary World Cinema will be showcasing the latest films like Chaos by Yussef chahine the Flight of the red Balloon by Hsou hsei Hsieng, silent light by Carlos Reygadas, and a host of other masters. New Malayalam Cinema has the latest fare from the local film industry, Retrospectives of filmmakers this year focuses on Jiri menzel who will also be chairing the competition jury. We have the largest retrospective ever in India of the Spanish cult filmmaker Pedro Almodovar. This collection of films allows viewers deep insight into the cinematic development of a contemporary auteur and his repertoire. The Korean maestro Im kwon Taek finds a special place in this festival and each of the films selected are milestones of achievement not only by the director but for Korean national cinema and the fact that this is the main body of work that established Korean films for the first time in the world of cinematic expression. Our own P. Bhaskaran find place alongside the masters for his contribution to Malayalam films.
Homage and Tributes this year have films by Ingmar bergman, Michelangelo Antonioni, Istvan Gal, Osmane Sembene, Edward Yang, C. V. Sreeraman, and K.K. Mahajan. The three films by yang are being screened in India for the first time.
Contemporary Indian Cinema showcases new Indian trends in filmmaking and narrative in our country.
The Short films and Documentaries in film formats bring a select fare of wonderful films from all over the world. Some msurely make us wonder where expression will be going in future.
A special attraction of this year’s festival is the Films from the Balkans. The Balkan is the mountainous peninsula regions of South west Europe, made up of Albania, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Greece, Macedonia, and Serbia. The region has seen war, ethnic violence, breaking down of states and ideologies emergence of new identities and government structures. But despite the divides and the diversities there is a cohesiveness within this region. The life, thoughts and cultures of the people from this region will reflect on the screen, through films made over the recent years.
Another novelty for this year is the colonial legacies package from the carribean, The idea behind the carribean package was to watch films from a region our audiences don’t usually associate with films or get to see many films from. This archeaopelagy has many racial groups coexisting and struggling for their identities in a foreign land. The emergence of a collective identity from within the cross section of cultures and lifestyles, and its fall side is what one can look forward to from these films.
A compilation of select anthologies will make us wonder where cinema is going in terms of length, expression, collaborations, content, business policies, and the works, of it all. It gives us a new insight into the filmmakers who contributed to these experiments and quizzes us about our awareness of today’s filmmakers.

A section called vivre france or the joy of cultures coexisting in france is another highlight. One again it explore the problems of the youth infrance the question of identity of roots of culture and meaning are once agin the crux of focus in thse films.
Also, there will be Seminars on important issues concerning Cinema. The Aravindan Memorial Lecture is a must attend for those academically inclined, as it is delivered by a famous film personality.