The International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) will screen all films as scheduled despite the Centre’s denial of clearance for screening over a dozen films at the festival, Kerala Chalachitra Academy chairman Resul Pookutty said on Tuesday.
IFFK 2025, which commenced on 12 December in Thiruvananthapuram, will conclude on 19 December.
"I am happy to let you know, dousing all the fire on the controversies regarding film screening in the IFFK, we are going ahead with all the screenings of the film as scheduled as per the notification issued by the Kerala government and long live cinema," Pookutty said in a video message on Instagram.
Sources told news agency PTI that the academy took the decision after the Left government in Kerala decided to defend freedom of expression following delays in obtaining official censor exemptions to screen around 15 films, including some related to the Palestine conflict and Sergei Eisenstein’s 100-year-old classic Battleship Potemkin.
Earlier in the day, four of the 19 movies awaiting the Centre's approval for screening were granted official censor exemptions.
Discussions were held with the Union ministry of information and broadcasting to obtain permission to screen these films at the 30th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), as per a PTI report.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and Kerala Cultural Affairs Minister Saji Cherian on Tuesday criticised the denial of central government clearance for screening 19 films at the IFFK being held here from December 12 to 19.
Tharoor termed the denial of clearance as "cinematic illiteracy" and "bureaucratic over-cautiousness" and claimed that he has urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to grant approval for screening of the films.
Cherian, speaking to reporters here, expressed his strong objection to the denial of clearance and said it would adversely affect the state's cinema tourism initiative as well as the future of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), for which thousands turn up from various parts of India and the world.
The minister said that the movies being denied clearance were world famous and there was no reason for not allowing them to be screened. He also questioned whether the contents of the films were "anti-national".
Tharoor, in a post on social media platform X, said that it was "most unfortunate" that an "unseemly controversy" had arisen over the central government's denial of clearance to the 19 films.
He said that the original list was much longer, but several clearances were obtained after he intervened with Vaishnaw at the request of the chairman of the festival.
The rest are awaiting clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs, Tharoor said.
He further said, "The list of 19 films suggests an extraordinary degree of cinematic illiteracy on the part of the bureaucracy. To deny clearance to a classic like 'Battleship Potemkin', a 1928 film on the Russian Revolution which has been viewed by literally hundreds of millions around the world (and in India) over the last century, is laughable.
"Denying permission to some Palestinian films reflects bureaucratic over-cautiousness rather than the cultural breadth of vision that should be involved when it comes to world cinema." The Congress MP said he has urged both Vaishnaw and Jaishankar to grant "expeditious clearance" to the films in order to "avoid any further embarrassment in the eyes of the cinema lovers of Kerala, and of the world".
Cherian was of the view that the denial of clearance was part of the alleged ongoing central government tactic of financially "harassing" the state.
He said that this was also evident from the recent move by the Centre to decrease its share in the rural employment scheme from the earlier 90 per cent to 60 per cent and increase the states' share to 40 per cent from 10 per cent.
"Also, a major chunk of the state's tax revenue is taken away as GST from the Centre, but allocations to the state have been cut down. When we try other means of revenue generation, like cinema tourism through the IFFK, then such obstructions are created," the minister alleged.
If such moves continue, why will anyone come to the state for IFFK or cinema tourism, Cherian asked and was doubtful whether the film festival would even be organised next year.