Thiruvananthapuram, Sunday, December 11, 2011: A steady surge of movie buffs was visible in all the screening theatres right from the beginning of the 16th International Film Festival Kerala (IFFK) 2011.

IFFK will screen more than 200 films in various sections including competition, world cinema, Malayalam cinema and Indian cinema. A huge rush of cinema fans was witnessed at the theater screening ‘Body’, a Turkish film directed by Mustafa Noori.

A special section on cinema on football, ‘Kicking and Screening’ is also part of this year’s IFFK. ‘Two Half-Times in Hell,’ a Hungarian film that narrates the story of a football match played between the prisoners of war and the Germans marking Hitler’s birthday.

A Separation by Iranian film-maker Asghar Farhadi, a compelling drama on dissolution of a marriage, won applause at the 16th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) on the third day today.

The film was screened in the World Cinema section of the festival.

Man without a cell phone by Palestinian director Sameh Zoabi, another notable film screened, tells the story of Salem, an Olive farmer determined to go into a fight against a nearby Israeli cell phone tower he fears is poisoning the villagers with radiation.

As efforts to remove the tower disrupts his son’s precious cellphone reception preventing further communication with potential girlfriends, he is forced to face the battle and grow up to be a man.

Spanish film The Monk directed by Dominik Moll also captured attention with its adaptation of the notorious Gothic novel By Matthew G Lewis published in 1796. It tells the tragic tale of ‘Friar Ambrosio’ set in 17th century Catholic Spain.

Abandoned at birth in front of the doors of a Capuchian monastery and raised by friars, Ambrosio becomes a preacher much admired for his fervour and feared for his uncompromising character. He believes he is sheltered from all temptations. The arrival of a mysterious novice undermines his convictions and leads him down to the path of sin.

L Argent, the final mesmerizing film by eminent filmmaker Robert Bresson was screened in the retrospective section. Based on a Leo Tolstoy’s short story, it won him the best director award at Cannes film festival in 1983. It details the tragic chain of events following the passage of a forged bank note by two school boys.

The film is shot in Bresson’s influential minimalist style and explores his signature themes of moral conflict, guilt, grace and redemption with extraordinary force and power.

Belvedere, a Croation film by Ahmed Imamovic, telling the story of a widow yearning to forget the tragedy of war 15 years after the ethnic cleansing of Bosnia Herzegovina was another major attraction. An emotionally rich portrait of war’s troubled aftermath, the film paints an uncommon image of patience, love and forgiveness.

In the retrospective section, Greek director Theo Angelopoulos Landscape in the Mist (1988) stood out. It tells the story of two children attempting to stow away everyday on a German-bound train to reunite with their unknown father, who according to their mother, lives in Germany.

Thai film Eternity by Sivaroj Kongsakul told in three time periods is a story of love and ghosts. A deceased retraces the steps of his youth, trying to find a young school teacher he fell in love with.

Meanwhile, Malayalam film Aadimadhyantham, excluded from the competition section on technical grounds, continued to create controversy as director Sherry staged a protest before IFFK’s main venue along with the child artiste who acted in the movie.

Kerala State Chalachitra Academy chairman Priyadarshan said he would consider changing the rules of the festival by-law in view of the complaints.

(News agency)