International Film Festival of Kerala opens on Friday

Thiruvananthapuram: World premiere of five films, Indian premiere of 153 films, six 3D films and 19 films nominated for the Oscars from different countries will be the highlights of the International Film Festival of Kerala opening here on Friday.

The festival will screen a total of 178 films across 14 venues for about 12000 delegates. Availability of seats in the venues has been increased to 7500 from 4500 last year.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will inaugurate the festival at Nishagandhi auditorium here in the evening. Tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain will be the guest of honour at the opening ceremony.

Iranian Director Dariush Mehrjui will be felicitated with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his remarkable contribution to cinematic art. Wolf Totem (France, China), directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, will be the opening film.

The festival this time is having films from countries such Haiti, Israel, Nepal and Kazakhstan in the competition section in place of usual emphasis on East Asian films. Films lined up in the competition section are Bopem (Kazakhsitan) directed by Zhanna Issabayeva, Clarisse or Something About Us (Brazil ) directed by Petrus Cariry, Entanglement (Turkey) directed by TUNÇ Davut, Immortal (Iran) directed by Hadi Mohaghegh, Jalal's Story (Bangladesh) directed by Abu Shahed Emon; Murder in Pacot (Haiti-France-Norway) directed by Raoul Peck, No Woman's Land (India) directed by Srijit Mukherji, Shadow Behind the Moon (Philippines) directed by Jun Robles Lana, The Black Hen (Nepal-Germany-Switzerland-France) directed by Min Bahadur Bham, The Painted House (India) directed by Satish and Santosh Babusenan, The Trap (India) directed by R. Jayaraj, The Violin Player (India) directed by Bauddhayan Mukherji , Yona (Israel) directed by Nir Bergman and Project of the Century (Argentina, Cuba, Germany, Switzerland) directed by Carlos Machado Quintela.

Wolf Totem, Martian, Life of Pi, Love, PAN and Everything will be fine are the 3D films to be featured at the festival. Nearly 90 films will be screened in the World Cinema Section. The festival also have sections focusing themes such as contemporary masters, true stories, debut films and women power besides sections on Malayalam and Indian and Korean films. Films of Mehrjui and jury members will also be featured at the festival.

Trailer of Opening Film Wolf Totem