IFFK's world famous jury members

Renowned African director Idrissa Oedugao, Iranian filmmaker Samira Makhmalbaf, Lucia Murat (Brazil), Jabbar Patel (India) and Sitora Alieva (Russia) have been selected to serve on the jury of 13th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), to be held in Thiruvananthapuram from December 12 to 19.

Idrissa Oedugao will be the Jury Chairman. This five-member jury will judge all films from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Latin American Film maestro Fernando Berry will be the Chief Guest. Jury member 28-year-old Samira Makhmalbaf is the youngest filmmaker in Iran and has received numerous international awards, including the Prix du Jury of the Cannes Film festival in 2000 and 2003 and the UNESCO Award of Venice Film Festival in 2002.

Actress-director Nandita Das, whose debut directorial venture film Firaque has been selected for IFFK 2008, will also come to the festival as a director. She said that she had been the capital to attend IFFK as an actress in the past, but this time it is as a director.

Organized in association with the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy (KSCA), IFFK will feature nearly 200 films, including 50 from the category of World Cinema. The festival aims at presenting a selection of the best of World Cinema and a competition section especially devoted to films from Asian, African and Latin American countries.

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 Akasagopuram and Adayalangal, have also been included in the competition category.

Contemporary World Cinema, New Malayalam Cinema, Retrospectives of Major filmmakers, Homage and Tributes, Contemporary Indian Cinema, Short films and Documentaries are the categories of the festival. 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.