IFFK 2012
The 17th edition of IFFK was held at Thiruvananthapuram from 7 to 14 December 2012. It was inaugurated by Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy with a special screening of Alfred Hitchcock's silent film The Ring (1927), with the accompaniment of live orchestration of a new score created by the sextet led by British Jazz artiste Soweto Kinch. One hundred and ninety eight films from 54 countries were shown in the festival.
14 films were screened in the competition section, including two Malayalam films (Bhoomiyude Avakashikal by T. V. Chandran and Shutter by Joy Mathew) and two non-Malayalam Indian films (I.D by Kamal K. M. and Filmistaan by Nitin Kakkar). IFFK 2012 had retrospectives of thespians and auteurs, past and present. It had works by Australian filmmaker Paul Cox (who chaired the competition jury), Burkina Faso film director and screenwriter Pierre Yameogo, French filmmaker Alain Resnais, the Japanese master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, Brazilian actor Helena Ignez, British filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock and Malayalam actor Sathyan.
IFFK 2012 was appreciated for improved viewing experiences it provided through better theatre atmosphere and high-tech sound and visual systems. IFFK 2012 was not free from controversies either. The ban imposed on the reshow of Deepa Mehta's Midnight's Children created a widespread controversy. The film, an adaptation of renowned writer Salman Rushdie's masterpiece novel Midnight's Children, had its Asian premiere at the IFFK. After the premiere show, Indian National Congress leaders came against the movie alleging that the film portrays former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and some other leaders in a negative manner. Following the allegations, any further screening of the film in the festival was stopped, an act which drew heavy criticism. Another controversy originated when the screening of Jayan K. Cherian's controversial film Papilio Buddha was aborted at the last minute by Kerala Police. Police sources claimed that there was an Intelligence Bureau report, which said that the screening could trigger major trouble in the city due to its alleged negative remarks on Mahatma Gandhi and overall Dalit sympathy it followed.
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