IFFK 2017: S Durga to have special screening at International Film Festival of Kerala

The International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), which begins in Thiruvananthapuram on 8 December, will host a special screening of Sanal Kumar Sasidharan’s S Durga, previously Sexy Durga. 

The film will be shown as a mark of protest against the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which, after initially selecting the film as part of the Indian Panorama, had not shown it till the final day despite a court order to do so.

IFFI 2017 is relying on glamour to cover up ruptures, says Sanal Sasidharan

The chairman of the Kerala State Chalachithra Academy, director Kamal, told The Hindu newspaper that “there is a clear political agenda behind the decision not to screen the film at IFFI even after the Kerala high court had issued an order to that effect”.

Sanal Kumar indicated that his film will be shown at IFFK. Earlier, he had withdrawn his film from the festival as it was not included in the competition section and announced on Facebook that he welcomes the move. 

However, he also said there would be no change in the move to hold a rival film festival coinciding with IFFK 2017. The Kazhcha Indie Film Festival, run by members of the Kazhcha Film Society and Nirav Art Movies, will run parallelly at the Lenin Balavadi at Vazhuthacaud from 8 to 11 December. The competing festival was planned to protest against the treatment of independent filmmakers at the hands of the Kerala State Chalachithra Academy.