Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan defends IFFK against censorship and Centre’s interference

The International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) will continue to exist, resisting all anti-democratic and fascistic attempts to shut it down, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.

He was speaking at the closing ceremony of the 30th edition of the festival here on Friday.

The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s denial of censor exemption to 19 films which pushed the festival into crisis remained as the focus point of the closing ceremony too as the CM lashed out at the Union government’s actions dictated by the “Sangh Parivar’s policy of clamping down on diverse and differing voices.”

“The denial of censor exemption was a clear attack on freedom of expression at the festival. The centre has now also begun deciding which all filmmakers can come to Kerala using the political clearance process to create roadblocks. In the current edition, a jury member from Azerbaijan as well as a Turkish filmmaker and producer were denied visa to travel to Kerala. Such measures bring disrepute to the country. This fascistic line of thought that no else should cooperate with people who don’t conform to thei ideology has to be resisted,” he said.

He said that some of the Union Ministry’s decisions betrayed its lack of knowledge about world cinema, while some others were laughable.

“They prevented the screening of the Spanish film ‘Beef’ on a hip hop musician, because ‘beef’ means only one thing to them, although in this context it means conflict. Battleship Potemkin, which is a textbook for film students, has been screened here numerous times. The ban on the Palestinian films show the Union government’s stand on the issue, in divergence from its historical position on Palestine as part of the Non-Aligned Movement,” said Mr. Vijayan.

He said that the current times call for the reclaiming of cultural spaces from communal forces.

“Behinds these actions are not mere technical decisions taken by the bureaucracy, but autocratic steps aimed at destroying the IFFK. The State government realised this and took the decision to screen the films, defying the ban,” he said

Minister for Cultural Affairs Saji Cherian said that the government’s stand has always been to screen all the films while the officials at the State Chalachitra Academy had to take certain decisions to step back from screening 6 films which were not cleared. Academy Chairperson Resul Pookutty had on Friday said that the academy decided to step back from screening the remaining six films considering the I&B ministry’s notice on Wednesday that stringent provisions of the Cinematograph Act 1952 will be used against the authorities for going ahead with the screenings.

Mr. Cherian also reiterated the government’s stand in solidarity with the survivor in the 2017 actor abduction and rape case. He said that stringent actions will be taken against those who continue to target women from the film field who have marked their support for the survivor.