An attack on progressive cinema

Film festivals have generally been viewed as platforms for free expression, with even works considered unsuitable for a wider audience getting screened in their entirety at festivals. But this year, the censors decided to scrutinise the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), with the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting denying censor exemption to as many as 19 of the 206 films charted for screening at the festival.

Films screened at festivals do not require a censor certificate, but they do need a censor exemption from the Union Ministry to be screened. Except for a couple of instances in the past, the censor exemption process has been a mere formality. Such a blanket ‘ban’ on a large number of films at a festival has been unprecedented, throwing the festival scheduling into disarray.

Among the films which were denied screening were Palestinian films Palestine 36, Once Upon a Time in Gaza, All That’s Left of You and Wajib, as well as Sergei Eisenstein’s Soviet-era classic Battleship Potemkin, considered a defining work of modern cinema. The Spanish film, Beef, on a young rap singer, was on the list, probably mistaken to be about the dish which is at the centre of political and cultural controversy. Also on the list was Yes, directed by Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid, who, as the jury chairperson at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in 2022, had criticised the inclusion of films such as The Kashmir Files.

The Kerala government was quick to take a defiant stance, ordering the State Chalachitra Academy to screen all the films as per schedule. Following protests, the Union Ministry approved the screening of 13 of the 19 films, while six films were still held up. At this point, the State too appeared to step back by deciding not to screen these six films.

The comments by the newly appointed chairperson of the Chalachitra Academy, Resul Pookutty, that the academy did not want to be seen as jeopardising the country’s international relations with the screening of these films, invited sharp criticism from filmmakers. He also hinted at being coerced into the act by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s notice that stringent provisions of the Cinematograph Act, 1952, will be used against the academy authorities for going ahead with the screenings. Within the State and among the wider community of filmmakers, the general opinion has been that the State government should have stuck to its earlier defiant stance.

Also read | Chalachitra Academy’s stand on denial of censor exemption to films at IFFK slammed

Festivals such as the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, which is on a hiatus this year, are facing an uncertain future. The IFFI, organised by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the National Film Development Corporation, has in recent years been platforming films such as The Kerala Story, while ignoring a number of independent films which depict stark realities of Indian society. The IFFK, in this scenario, has been seen as one of the few remaining major film festivals in the country that showcases progressive films that are not exactly palatable to the saffron establishment. The unprecedented ‘ban’ on films at the IFFK is being viewed as part of an insidious attempt to disrupt and destroy the festival.

Malayalam cinema’s recent ascendancy with its grounded films portraying novel themes can be partly attributed to the IFFK as well as the State’s network of film societies. The IFFK, now in its 30th year, has served as a nurturing ground for many of the current crop of filmmakers from the State, many of whom have grown up watching a wide variety of films from across the world at the festival. Unlike most film festivals, the IFFK has been a festival of the masses, with a delegate participation of 10,000-15,000 annually and with nearly all the films having a packed crowd.

This year, it was not just film screenings which were disrupted at the IFFK. A jury member from Azerbaijan as well as a Turkish filmmaker and producer were denied visas to travel to Kerala. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who lashed out at the Union government at the closing ceremony, said that the IFFK will continue to exist, resisting all anti-democratic and fascistic attempts to shut it down.

Cultural spaces which can bring people together without considering their religious and political differences have been shrinking in the country in recent years. In such a scenario, the few such remaining platforms, such as the IFFK, need to be protected at all costs.