Lijo Jose Pellissery’s ‘Churuli’ to premiere on Thursday at IFFK

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Adding to the excitement of movie buffs the second day of the 25th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) will witness the world premiere of Lijo Jose Pellissery’s film ‘Churuli’. The film will be screened at the Tagore Theatre here at 2.45pm on Thursday. The film is also competing for the ‘Suvarna Chakoram’ (Golden Crow Pheasant) award, which is given to the best film, along with 13 other films. 

A three-minute signature film is being screened as a tribute to the frontline workers of Covid. Directed by state award winner Mahesh Narayanan, the film is also set to enliven cinephiles thereby spreading the message of reviving the theatrical experience. The music of the signature film has been composed by Sushin Shyam. 

Due to the pandemic-induced travel restrictions, pre-recorded sessions of the discussions with foreign directors will be screened where a recorded discussion on opening film ‘Quo vadis, Aida?’ directed by Jasmila Zbanic will be screened first. This will be followed by meet with directors of ‘In Between Dying’ and ‘ Nowhere Special’. 

The sessions will be moderated by national award winning film critic Bharadwaj Rangan, Rada Sesi and Namarata Joshi. The screening of the recorded session will be held at 7pm in Nila theatre. Kim-Ki-duk’s ‘ Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring’ will be featured in the homage category. Under the category of Malayalam Cinema Today, Mahesh Narayanan’s ‘C U Soon’ and Vipin Atley’s ‘Musical Chair’ will be screened. 

As many as 12 films will be screened in the competition section on Thursday and Friday which include ‘Sthalpuran’ by Akshay Indikar; ‘Memory House’ by Joao Paulo Miranda; ‘Kosa’ by Mohit Priyadarshi; ‘Birdwatching’ by Andrea Martinez Crowther; ‘Lonely Rock’ by Alejandro Telemaco Tarraf among others.  Eleven films will be screened in the World Cinema Category and two films will be screened in the Indian Cinema Now category.