Day three of the 19th edition of the International Film Festival Kerala (IFFK) on Sunday witnessed a good participation of delegates and the screening of some interesting movies. The jostling by the crowd of delegates in front of some theatres resulted in skirmishes and the glass panes in front of New theatre were broken.
In all the venues, the movie screening started at the correct time as mentioned in the schedules. As per reports, unlike Saturday, no confusion regarding the screening occurred on Sunday. But, long queues were seen in front of the theatres from the morning itself.
The organisers appointed volunteers at the entry of every theatre to control the delegates before and after the shows. Even then, the crowd was out of control and a ruckus took place at Kairali theatre too.
Owing to the huge crowd of delegates on a public holiday, the queues of film buffs were formed 30-45 minutes before every screening.
“It was impossible to attend consecutive screenings as we had to get into the queues before 40-45 minutes. Thus, I and my friend missed some good movies which we were planning to watch,” said Ananthu, a city-based delegate.
The big crowd of delegates in front of New theatre on Sunday around 11.30 pm engaged in a scuffle and glass panes were broken. The Sajin Babu-directed Malayalam movie ‘Unto the Dusk’ was being screened there in the ‘Competition’ section.
Around 2.30 pm, the queue of delegates in front of Kairali theatre for the ‘Competition’ film ‘Oblivion Season’, suddenly dispersed and rushed to the theatre breaking the barricade set up by the volunteers.
Censorship
Filmmaker Raj Amit Kumar commented that censorship denies the director the right to express his opinions through movies. He was addressing the media at a press conference organised as part of the fete at Hotel Hycinth by Sparsa on Sunday. His movie ‘Dagh Ujala’ was screened in the festival.