The International Film Festival of Kerala will be organised as scheduled in December, but with a limited budget, Matrubhumi reported. The fate of the event had been uncertain after the Kerala government earlier this month cancelled all state-funded events to concentrate its resources on flood relief. More than 483 people had died and a million displaced in one of the state’s worst-ever floods in August.
This year’s festival, to be held from December 7-14, will not be funded by the government. The Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, which organises the festival every year, will raise funds independently. The decision was reportedly taken after a meeting between the representatives of the Academy and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The event will also have a higher delegate fee and will scrap its opening ceremony, Sify reported. Other cost-saving measures could include limiting the international films and inviting fewer foreign delegates.
The International Film Festival of Kerala, held annually since 1996, is one of the best programmed and attended events in the country. Reports of the festival’s possible cancellation had met with concern from film industry members and moviegoers.
Filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan had told The Hindu earlier this month that cancelling the event would be a “blunder”, adding, “The only sensible option is to conduct the IFFK in a simple style, retaining only the key sections and calling off the rest.”
Chalachitra Academy President Kamal had said that calling off the festival would have a negative impact on Malayalam films, especially those that were made over the last year.
In August, the Kerala government had also cancelled the annual Onam celebrations and the Nehru trophy boat race.