INAUGURATION OF FESTIVAL OFFICE

Hon’ble Minister for Forest, Wildlife, Sports and Cinema, K.B Ganesh Kumar will inaugurate the Festival Office of 16^th IFFK at Kairali Theatre premises, at  03.00 pm on 08^th December 2011.

Long Whistles from the Screen

For all the football freaks, 16th IFFK offers, seven films on football, in its Kicking and Screening Section. The splendor of the game is recreated from grounds to celluloid in this new package. Except the Two half times in Hell, all the other films in this section are latest.

TWO HALF TIMES IN HELL(1962), directed by  Zoltan Fabri, is a film cherished by football fans and films lovers across the world with a tint of pain, will surely make the festival worth watching. The plot of the film is a match organized by Nazi officers for Hitler’s birthday, in which Germans play against Hungarian prisoners of war.

            TWO ESCOBARS, 2010 Film by Jeff Zimbalist and Michael Zimbalist, narrates the story of Pablo Escobar, a Colombian drug mafia don and Andres Escobar, Colombian Football Player. In 1994 World cup, Andres Escobar’s one mistake in field, dashed the pride of an entire nation. The player was murdered for this, by Colombian drug mafia.

WILL, directed by Ellen Perry is a sentimental journey of an orphan child to see the 2005 Champions League final. SOKA AFRIKA, by Suridh Hassan tackles the problem of trafficking of young footballers from Africa to the European leagues through the story of two aspiring footballers who set out to find their fame and fortune. 

GAMES OF THEIR LIVES by David Anspaugh, showcases the match between Italy and Korea in the 1950 World cup. GARUDA DI DADAKU, Indonasean Film directed by Ifa Isfansyah, tells a boy's dream to become a soccer player. Argentanian movie OFFSIDE, directed by David Marcques   deals with an Argentine Doctor’s life and his love for football.

All films in this package are the selections from the Kicking and Screening Film Festival, Newyork.

For whom the Walls are made

Stories from the land of walls make the DEFA package - Eight East German Films – is a journey through the past of Germany. All the films made in Germany before 1990, portray the distance, loss, wounds, miseries and anticipation endured by the people of old EastGermany.

AFTER WINTER COMES SPRING, a documentary film directed by Helka Misselwitz, shot just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, narrates the deep financial crisis in Germany, through the lives of ordinary women - from punks to workers, from intellectuals to mothers - struggling under severe economic hardship, yet hopeful about the changing social and political landscape in which they live.Misselwitz differed with the party line to produce this film, in which the female subjects, contradict the official image of workers in a progressive socialist society. It bagged Silver Dove Award in Berlin International Film Festival, 1989.

DEUTSCHLAND – ENDSTATION OST, directed by Frans Buyens, reveals the population rise and complex problems converged on one side of Berlin wall. It was produced in the year of 1964.GIRLS IN WINTTSTOCK, a 1975 year movie, depicts the problems, anxieties, and dreams of three girls in a tailoring factory. It was written and Directed by Volker Koepp.THE ARCHITECTS, the only 1990 movie in this section, is directed by Peter Kahane. It is the story of Daniel Brenner (Kurt Naumann), an idealistic architect in his late thirties, under the backdrop of East Berlin, in the final days of the Communist regime.

The meeting of two young lovers at a night club is beautifully sketched in the LEGEND OF PAUL AND PAULA, a 1973 film, Directed by Heiner Carow. ESCAPE, first released in 1978, is directed by Hajo Baumgartner. Story of corruption and bureaucracy is depicted in THE SONS OF GREAT BEAR, directed by Josepf Mach. TRACES OF STONES, pictured in 1966, by Frank Bear, is a triangular love story in those days of political turmoil.

                All the eight films, which made in those days of separation, may impart an insight to the political history of Germany, before the fall of the wall.

ഫെസ്റ്റിവല്‍ ഓഫീസ് ഉദ്ഘാടനം

 പതിനാറാമത് രാജ്യാന്തര ചലച്ചിത്രമേളയുടെ ഫെസ്റ്റിവല്‍ ഓഫീസ് ഇന്ന് (08.12.11) വൈകീട്ട് 3.30ന് കൈരളി തിയേറ്റര്‍ കോമ്പോണ്ടില്‍ ചലച്ചിത്ര വകുപ്പ് മന്ത്രി കെ ബി ഗണേഷ് കുമാര്‍ ഉദ്ഘാടനം ചെയ്യും.

On the banks of River Yangtze …

(Inaugural Film of 16^th IFFK - 06.00 pm 09^th Dec`11 at Nishagandhi)

UNDER THE HAWTHORN TREE, the inaugural film of the 16th International Film Festival of Kerala, is a love story, set in the backdrop of the Cultural Revolution in China. The 114 minutes film is directed by notable Chinese Filmmaker Zhang YiMou.

Zhang YiMou, China’s fifth generation filmmaker had won several accolades to his earlier films like Red Sorghum, Raise the Red Lantern and Curse of the Golden Flower, etc. He has chosen a different way to make this film, with soft colours and simple language.UNDER THE HAWTHORN TREE is an adaptation of a novel Hawthorn Tree Forever, written by Ai Mi, based on a real life story, happened during the 1966-76.

There is a Hawthrone Tree in the Xiping Village of China, on the banks of Yangtze River. It is revered as Tree of Heroes, and said to be nurtured with the blood of Chinese Martyres, killed by Japanese army during the Second World War. Zhang Jingqiu, daughter of a jailed political outcast in 1970s, meets LaoSan,  son of a high-ranking Communist Party official, at this village and they fall in love, despite the gulf, between their backgrounds.

The lead roles are played by new comers, another remarkable feature of the Zhang YiMou films. The Director Zhang YiMou is well known for his star-making power. Actresses who shot to fame after starring in his films are favourably called "Mou girls”. The 18-year-old Zhou Dongyu, who plays Jingqiu, the lead role in this film, was in her final high-school year, when she landed the plum role, and she chose to skip college entrance exams in order to act in the film. Shawn Dou, who plays the role of LaoSan, is also a new comer. Dou was born in China, raised in Canada and is now studying acting at the Beijing Film Academy.

It is said that, Zhang Yimou, China’s most popular filmmaker of these days, had sold his own blood to buy his first camera, in 1960. He had excelled in film making and achieved a unique position in Chinese as well as International film world. He conducted the spectacular 2008 Olympic opening ceremonies in Beijing. He made this film as a low-budget, intimate love story with unknown lead actors. It received numerous awards and recognitions and was featured in major film festivals like Venice, Cannes, and Berlin. It was the opening film of 2011 Pusan International Film Festival.