The Kottayam International Film Festival (KIFF) will commence on Friday.
Minister for Cultural Affairs Saji Cherian will inaugurate the festival at a function to be held at Answara theatre at 5 p.m. Minister for Cooperatives and Registration V. N. Vasavan will preside. Renowned director and scenarist Saeed Akhtar Mirza will be the chief guest of the function.
Addressing media persons in Kottayam, Mr. Vasavan said 39 feature films including 17 movies that have won top awards at leading film festivals will be screened in the five-day festival .
The films to be screened include Decision to Leave, which won the best director award for Park Chan Wook at the Cannes Film Festival, Tori and Lokita, which won the 75th Annual Award, Triangle of Sadness, which won the Palme d’Or award, Leila’s Brothers, which won the FIPRESCI award, Saint Omer, which won the Grand Jury Prize and the Best Debut Film Award at the Venice Film Festival, No Bears, which won the Special Jury Prize, The Winter Within, which won the Audience Award at the Busan Film Festival, Both Sides of the Blade, which won the Silver Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival, and Rule 34, which won the Golden Leopard Award for Best Film at the Locarno Film Festival.
Various art and cultural programmes will be organised at the old police station ground at Thirunakkara in connection with the festival.
The film festival is being organised in collaboration with the Kottayam Film Society, Information and Public Relations Department, Federation of Film Societies of India and various organisations in the film industry. Delegate registration can be done online through the link https://registration.iffk.in/. The delegate fee is ₹300 for general category and ₹150 for students. Registration can also be done directly through the counter set up at Anaswara theatre.