Meenakshi Shedde Column: Tera kya hoga, Kim Ki-Duk?

Kerala and Barcelona mdash disparate as they are mdash are my most favourite places on earth Keralarsquos natural beauty and its people are its main attractions of course But when I attended the 20th International Film Festival of Kerala IFFK this year the snapshot that remains in my mind is of a rag picker taking a break to read the morningrsquos newspaper on the pavement As much as it seems a picture of a remarkably progressive state it could also be that images ldquolierdquo concealing stories of unemployment and how highly qualified people are unable to get jobs in the stateThe film Otaal is about child labourBut when it comes to film Kerala must be unbeatable This is a state where rice farmers can have an animated discussion on Danish director Lars von Trierrsquos films with you And where film critic and author CS Venkiteswaranrsquos article ldquoTea shops in Malayalam Cinemardquo has been included in Kerala school text books Venkiteswaran told me over a coffee that because of severe caste discrimination including in the serving of food he saw tea shops as an egalitarian space where anyone who could afford tea and snacks could enter thus creating a political space as well In any case addabaji is a real treat here as the locals are so well read In Bombay Chetan Bhagat is the bestseller but Venkiteswaran tells me that translation is a huge business in Kerala and many bestsellers in Malayalam are translations from other languages including Bengali and Marathi ldquoPeople canrsquot wait for the next book of Orhan Pamuk and his translations run into many editionsrdquo Only in Kerala it seemsAnd of course it is always a pleasure to attend the International Film Festival of Kerala IFF Kerala the quality of whose films and especially filmliterate audiences are legendary along with those of the Kolkata International Film Festival Shaji Karun was chairman of the festival advisory committee it must be one of the rare instances of an active practising filmmaker being head of an international film festival in India Attending IFFK soon after attending the International Film Festival of India in Goa I could not help but be thankful that IFFK is still strongly political a thinking festival that has traditionally had a focus on Asia Africa and Latin American cinema and where Korean director Kim KiDuk is such a big star he caused a nearriot when he last attended the festival A highlight of this yearrsquos IFFK was a discussion on the legacy of the Film and Television Institute of India FTII saffronisation and cultural fascism by Adoor Gopalakrishnan Girish Kasaravalli MS Sathyu and others moderated by Bina Paul Venugopal who was IFFKrsquos wellloved Festival Director for over 12 years Whereas at IFFI FTII students were not even allowed in at festival venues they were forcibly removed and detained by the police for peacefully protesting against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as FTII chairmanAs for the films I was delighted that Jayarajrsquos Ottaal The Trap a moving and utterly poetic film about a grandfather and his grandson that addresses child labour swept all the top prizesfor best film FIPRESCI film criticsrsquo Jury Prize the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema NETPAC Jury Prizeof which I was a memberas well as the audience prizeMany jury members were delighted that they could eat beef chilli and beef fry at the festival lunches as beef is banned in most Indian states one way or another but Kerala is one of the few states where it is freely available Gossip had it that many guests and especially those from from Islamic nations who could not openly drink in their own nations and hoped to have a good time in Kerala were particularly miffed at being served watermelon juice instead of alcohol at the opening night party I was told there is no official prohibition but stricter controls have made life difficult for tipplers One of the main governmentrun festival hotels was Mascot Hotel but all the locals called it Muscat hotel so it felt as if the official dinners were in OmanThe city has five theatres mdash Sree Kairali Nila Tagore and Kalabhavan mdash owned or run by the governmentrsquos Kerala State Film Development Corporation I was told that following the recommendations of Adoor Gopalakrishnanrsquos report he headed an advisory panel last year IFFK had a film market for Malayalam films and the top five awarded Malayalam films were released in the government theatres but got a mixed response from the audienceClearly yearround high quality film curating and film appreciation education are the key Mr Gopalakrishnanrsquos other recommendation in 2014 that delegate passes should be given only to those who can speak English so that they could read English subtitles on foreign films didnrsquot go down so well Writer NS Madhavan tweeted ldquoThera kya hoga Kim Ki Duk You canrsquot enter your favourite IFFK because you canrsquot speak EnglishrdquoMeenakshi Shedde is South Asia Consultant to the Berlin Film Festival awardwinning critic curator to festivals worldwide and journalist Reach her at meenakshisheddegmailcom The views expressed in these columns are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper