Cinema, the 'Glocal' Medium

For Thiruvanathapuram (Trivandrum), the city hosting IFFK, it is an occasion to recharge itself with glimpses of life from around the world. After thirteen years, the local has gone global! As a student I hear many anecdotes about the festival from my teachers and friends. This is my first time as a delegate, and I had a strange but rewarding encounter. It was while I was sipping a tea at the local fast-food joint, a 'thattukada' as we call it.
These 'thattukada' guys make a living appeasing the hunger and thirst of festival buffs. With enticing and mouth watering treats they succeed in distracting the attention of film fanatics. A guy at one of the joints near the main venue even has many offers at hand. He tried to strike a deal with our group of ten students. For a cash deposit of Rupees 500 he will see to it that we have the energy to survive the entire festival. A lucrative deal indeed.
We dismissed this as a joke, an easy way to earn fast bucks. But this guy did not stop there. While settling our accounts he asked me very nonchalantly if I have seen The Blackboard (Takhté siah, 2000) and not to miss it if I have not. Even though it was a gimmick it did give me a momentary shock. As far as we hard core movie buffs are concerned Samira Makhmalbaf is a household name. But coming from a guy like him was quite a shock. And that is Kerala for you!
This annual celebration of moving images is also an annual bonanza for him. Apart from money, the festival also brings him many other profits. These joints are venues to many a heated discussion on cinema and I think any film critic will have a few worthy lessons to learn from here. Cinema does transcend barriers, even though we may not notice many.

Swetha Antony

© FIPRESCI 2008

THE ' 5 '

We, Swetha, Aswathy, Surya, Rima, and Tinto, have taken up the task from today...

30 fidayeens recruited for mumbai attack

The 10 men who conducted the attacks in Mumbai belonged to a group of 30 recruits selected for suicide missions and the whereabouts of the other 20 are unknown, the 'New York Times' reported.

India has no reason to believe the other 20 are in India, but that could be a possibility, the newspaper's website (www.nytimes.com) quoted Mumbai Police Deputy Commissioner Deven Bharti as saying on Tuesday. "Another 20 were ready to die," Bharti said. "This is the very disturbing part of it." It was the first time Indian police had disclosed the larger number of suicide recruits from the Pakistani militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba. They say only 10 gunmen took part in the Nov. 26-29 attacks in Mumbai that killed 171 people and raised tensions between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan.
Information about the other recruits came from the sole surviving gunman, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, who was arrested during the attacks and has been in police custody

By Arunjith

Delhi Elections

New Delhi: Shiela Dikshit, who steered the Congress to a historic hat-trick in Delhi, was on Wednesday elected as the leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP), paving way for her ‘third innings’ as Chief Minister in the national capital.
Dikshit was elected at a meeting of 42 party MLAs in New Delhi on Wednesday afternoon. The meeting was attended among others by AICC general secretary Mohsina Kidwai, Minister of State for Finance P K Bansal and DPCC chief Jai Prakash Aggarwal. In the meeting, sources said, a resolution supported by all the MLAs was placed which left the choice of the CLP leader to party chief Sonia Gandhi.
Kidwai contacted Gandhi, who apparently told the AICC general secretary about her wishes, during the meeting and afterwards Dikshit was elected unanimously, they said.
"I am very happy today," a beaming Dikshit said.

By Ashamol Joseph

BY VARUN

pathra dharmam

By Arun Sankar

2008 IFFK -an overview

Kerala, the land of God's own country,the land of hills and spectacular arts is going to witness the 13th IFFK festival, which begins on 12th Decmber2008 and ends on 19 thdecember 2008.The IFFK is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram.The film festival was started in 1996 and is produced by Kerala State Chalachitra Academy on behalf of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the State Government. The well-informed ,serious minded and dignified audience of Kerala is the success of this festival.
Retrospectives of filmmakers this year focus on Fernando Birri legendary Argentinian Director who is also the Chief Guest at the festival this year. This year Mr. Amos Gitai’s truly moving films will be screened. He will deliver the Aravindan Memorial Lecture on the 16th Dec 2008. This collection of films allows viewers a deep insight into the cinematic development of a contemporary auteur and his repertoire. The French New Wave maestro Alain Resnais finds a special place in this festival and each of the films selected are milestones of achievement not only by the director but for cinema itself, opening up the medium to its poetic possibilities. Contemporary filmmakers such as Idrissa Ouedraogo, Samira Makhmalbaf, Fatih Akin, Julio Medem, representing various trends in World Cinema, find a place in the programme. A special section on Indian Masters in Action will showcase the work of some masters of Indian Cinema. Bharatan the Malayalam outré who blazed the screen till the eighties is seen this year as the Malayalam Filmmaker in focus. Homage and Tributes this year have films by Yousiffe Chahine, Jules Dassin, Bharat Gopi, KT Mohammad and others who the world of cinema has lost this year. Contemporary World Cinema will bring the latest films from all over the world. And at last New Malayalam Cinemas from the local film industry. The Short films and Documentaries in film formats bring a select wonderful films from all over the world. Some surely make us realise that expression will have no boundaries in the future.A special attraction of this year’s festival is the Films from Russia in our Country Focus. Workshops and seminars and discussions on various issues in Cinema will as always liven up the IFFK.I'm also eagerly waiting to become a part of this world of Rainbows.

By Sreeja

TAJ ATTACK IN MUMBAI

BY VARUN

thalavattom

by varun

Third Group

We are operating this blog from 3-12-2008 to 10-12-2008

Team members:

• Sreeja J.R.
• Ashamol Joseph
• Arunjith
• Mehaboob
• Varun krishnan V.R.