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The
4th International Film Festival of Kerala organised
at Kochi from the 3rd to 10th April 1999, was a big
success, both in terms of quality of the films screened
and participation. Beginning this year, it established
itself as a competitive festival, for films from Asian,
African and Latin American countries. There is also
a biennial competition for short films.
Awards
The
Taiwanese entry 'The Flowers of Shanghai' (1998/114
min/col), directed by Hou Hsiao-Hsien bagged the 'Suvarna
Chakoram' award of Rupees 10 lakhs.
The special jury prize went to the Korean film 'Spring
in my Hometown', (1998/121min/col).
Indian director Mani Kaul was adjudged the best director
for his Netherlands-India co-production 'The Servant's
Shirt'
(1998/104min/col).
P. T. Kunhi Mohammed and K.A. Mohan Das, shared the
award for the best script for the film 'Gershome'.
Jury
The
Jury was headed by internationally renowned film maker
Mr. Adoor Gopalakrishnan. Mr.Donald Richie- an authority
on Japanese cinema, Mr. Alain Jalladeau- Director of
the Festival of Three Continents and Mr. Martial Knaebel-
Director of the Fribourg Film Festival, were its other
members.
Sections
201
films screened under 28 sections included --tributes
to the great master Akira Kurosawa and Stanley Kubrick,
retrospectives of Shohei Imamura, Carl Dreyer, Jean-Luc
Godard, Yasujiro Ozu, centenary tributes to Lev Kuloshov
and Alfred Hitchcock, homage to Bharathan, Premji and
P. Raman Nair, personalities of the Malayalam film world,
focus on Iran, Germany and Spain and some of the best
in contemporary Indian Cinema. Malayalam Cinema featured
some of the works that won the 1998 Kerala State Film
Awards. There were also a package of Mario Monicelli's
films, films from war-torn Bosnia and unique packages
of films from film schools and advertisement films.
Highlights
The
festival's usual highlights such as the open forum sessions,
press briefings, seminars, cultural programmes were
a grand success.
Guests
Several
luminaries of the film world and the media, both from
within the country and abroad, attended the festival.
Audience
participation
IFFK'99
had a record participation of 1,60,000 viewers. Of these
4 per cent of the guests were from foreign countries,
film activists made up a hefty 25 per cent and cine
artistes constituted 14 per cent.
Film
marketing
Organised
by MACTA( Malayalam Actors and Cine Technicians Association)
and the Film Producers Association, this innovative
feature of the festival which brought together interested
buyers, producers and distributors, was an enormous
success.
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