Mayor's orders for 13th IFFK

Thiruvanathapuram Mayor C. Jayan Babu convened a meeting of theatre owners and officials of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy (KSCA) on Tuesday to discuss the preparatory works to be undertaken in theatres ahead of the 13th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) to be held from December 12 to 19 in the capital.

The Mayor has asked festival theatres to repair all damaged seats, lights, toilets and other utilities before the festival. Theatre owners have been asked to white-wash public areas of the theatre, set up effective waste management facilities within their compound and to clean the toilets in the theatres after every screening.

They have also been directed to deploy more than one security staff at their gates to manage the rush after film screenings. Directions have also been given to strictly prohibit smoking. Quality food items should be provided at theatres. The meeting also gave directions to repair the road in front of the Dhanya Remya theatre at Ayurveda College.

Organized in association with KSCA, IFFK will showcase 186 films in 14 different categories. In the category of Malayalam films, 7 films (Ranjth's Thirakkatha, M. Mohanan's Kadha Parayumbol, Madhupal's Thalappavu, Rupesh Paul's Laptop, T.V. Chandran's Vilapangalkkappuram, Anjali Menon's Manjadikkuru and Jayaraj's Gulmohar) will be screened during the festival. 14 Malayalam films, including Aakasagopuram and Adayalangal, have been included in the competition category.

56 films from 28 countries will be screened in the World Cinema category. Seven films that mark the milestones of 50 years of world cinema will be screened in a separate category. Other than this, five films have been included in the Focus on Russia section while 15 films will be featured in the Retrospective section.

The Golden Crow Pheasant Award (Suvarna Chakoram), the Silver Crow Pheasant Award (Rajata Chakoram), Best Debut Film Award (Rajata Chakoram) and Audience Prize (Rajata Chakoram) are the major awards to be presented in the festival.