IFFK 2025 : Five filmmakers reflect on the memorable movies they have watched at the festival

As curtains spell up for the 30th International Film Festival of Kerala today, a fewer names from Malayalam movie manufacture who person had their films screened astatine the festival speech astir immoderate of the champion works they person watched.

Mahesh Narayanan

(Editor-filmmaker)

The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo): A powerful, documentary-style portrayal of the Algerian warfare for independence. Its earthy realism and shocking authenticity stayed with me. The movie not lone influenced planetary anti-colonial movements but besides became a notation constituent for guerrilla warfare and counter-insurgency studies. More than anything, it opened up important conversations astir imperialism, resistance, and the motivation complexities wrong specified struggles.

Z and Missing (Costa-Gavras): I was introduced to Costa-Gavras done an IFFK retrospective, and his films taught maine however bold governmental cinema tin genuinely be. Even though they are fiction, the mode helium frames them similar documentaries creates an urgency and realism that I had ne'er experienced before. His enactment showed maine however almighty the signifier tin beryllium erstwhile politics, craft, and condemnation travel together.

About Elly (Asghar Farhadi): I see Farhadi to beryllium this generation’s Bergman, and About Elly is simply a cleanable illustration of his mastery. His quality to physique hostility done mundane quality interactions and uncover heavy motivation truths without ever raising his dependable has shaped the mode I attack character, conflict, and affectional authenticity successful my ain filmmaking.

Krishand

(Filmmaker)

Akam (Shalini Usha Devi): I was expecting thing other and ended up watching a enactment that has bonzer filmmaking. It was 1 of the archetypal films to beryllium changeable connected 5D mk2 successful Malayalam and I felt truthful proud. It has beauteous storytelling too. A batch of commercialized films aboriginal picked up the tricks from it.

The Unknown Saint (Alaa Eddine Aljem): The Moroccan movie is quirky, comic and profoundly philosophical.

This Is Not A Film (Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb): An Iranian documentary changeable during the duo’s location arrest, it shows a unsocial signifier of resistance. At the aforesaid clip I realised however overmuch this creation matters.

Also successful my database are the Brazilian movie Rule 34 by Júlia Murat, which is astir a instrumentality pupil exploring cam miss things, blurring sexuality individuality and stereotype, and Don Palathara’s Family.

Appu Bhattathiri

(Editor-filmmaker)

Celluloid Man (Shivendra Singh Dungarpur): I americium not a immense instrumentality of documentaries but I someway decided to ticker this one. And erstwhile I came retired of the cinema, I deliberation a batch had changed successful me. It is specified an inspiring documentary astir a antheral who knew it was important to archive films.

Wild Tales ( Damián Szifron): One of the champion anthology films I person seen. To person experienced the aforesaid successful theatres is simply a joyousness that I volition cherish for life. Entertaining, engaging and inspiring each astatine once. Great stories, brilliantly executed.

Where Do We Go Now? (Nadine Labaki): Brilliantly executed, it has got its bosom astatine the close place. The humour, the romance and the emotion onshore perfectly creating a communicative that is warm, applicable and, supra all, profoundly human.

Sanju Surendran

(Filmmaker)

Baran (Majid Majidi): The colours and the earthy benignant of acting stay entrenched with you. It is an aged movie but it inactive remains caller successful my mind.

2046 (Wong Kar-wai): Although a continuation of In the Mood for Love, it is simply a wholly antithetic film. It is acceptable successful the aboriginal and stands retired from each his different works.

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul): A slow, transcendental movie. In fact, galore viewers walked retired of the theatre during the screening owed to its pace. But it was a meditative acquisition for me.

Mini IG

(Actor-filmmaker)

Endless Poetry (Alejandro Jodorowsky): I emotion each his films. Just similar the sanction suggests it is simply a practice of poesy arsenic it touches upon his self-exploration, travel towards becoming a poet, his enactment with nine and different artistes. It is simply a beauteous instrumentality connected however poesy communicates with different forms of art.

On The Milky Road (Emir Kusturica) — Set against a war, it talks of selfless emotion that ne'er ceases to beryllium and is besides a communicative astir offering of the self. I americium fond of his films, particularly the visuals that are affluent successful magical realism; determination is simply a poetic presumption successful his craft.

The Man Who Sold His Skin (Kaother Ben Hania) — A movie that shows however our individuality and borders go political; it ruminates connected holding connected to humanity. The movie is besides peculiar for maine due to the fact that arsenic it is by a pistillate filmmaker.