This farmer from Kasargod has been doing it for the past 22 years
Mathachan KJ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Mathachan KJ spends most of his time on his farm in Kasargod, Kerala. There, he tends to over 1,00,000 mussels that grow in seven ponds. “They are not edible and are grown specifically to cultivate pearls. This batch is now nine months old. It will take another nine more months for the harvest,” explains the 65-year-old.
Mathachan set up his pearl farm 22 years ago after resigning from his work as a professor in Saudi Arabia. “In 1982, I got an opportunity to take up a course on freshwater pearl cultivation from the Freshwater Fisheries Research Centre, China. I loved it and decided to resign my job and do it full time in 1999.”
He initially cleared the rubber plantation with his 35 cents to dig the first pond to grow them. “It is large and can hold 20 lakh litres of water. The other six are comparatively smaller and are in different locations on my six acres of land. I also grow areca nut, vanilla and coconut trees in the plot.” Mathachan sources the fresh mussels from the river Kaveri, near his home. “I use the variety called Lamellidens marginalis that is abundant in the Western Ghats. Both the shells and the pearls have a golden tone to it,” he explains.
The mussels are immersed in the pond in suspended baskets, and feed on plankton found in the water. “It is important to maintain the pH of the water between seven and nine for optimum growth,” says Mathachan. The mussels dwell in the ponds for a month before they are implanted with acrylic nuclei, which later develop into pearls. “I use two nuclei for a mussel which gives me two pearls during harvest.”
It takes 18 months for the pearls to mature by forming numerous ‘nacre layers’ around the nucleus. “It is formed by a secretion of the mussels. There will be 540 layers formed when I harvest them.” The extraction is done manually, and Mathachan has six people to help him in the process. The shells are separated carefully to get the pearls. After being cleaned with water, the pearls are then sent to gemologists for certification. “They are then exported to Australia. The market for freshwater pearls is better abroad,” he says.
Mathachan has taken more than 1,000 workshops on freshwater farming so far across India. “Anyone can do it with a bit of patience and training. It feels good to see a growing interest. After the pandemic, I learnt to take classes online.” Other than mussels, he also grows fish in the pond. “It gives me an added income and also fresh fish for the family. Most of my weekends are spent fishing with my friends on my farm,” he concludes.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Life &Style / by Susan Joe Philip / February 02nd, 2021
In his long and fruitful life, the 93-year-old has penned hundreds of poems in addition to bringing out short story collections, essays and plays.
Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri. (File | EPS)
“When I shed a drop of tear soaked in compassion for others a thousand universes drawn in my heart
When I spend a smile from my lips wetted with my love for others the gentle, ever pure moonlight fills my heart
I knew not till date of this divine rapturous enlightened flow thinking again and again of this knowledge denied shattered in mind, I weep.”
These words flowed from Akkitham’s pen in ‘Irupatham Noottandinte Ithihasam’ (Epic of the 20th Century), a poetic masterpiece that has been termed one of the first works that heralded modernism in Malayalam poetry. The 93-year-old Malayalam poet won the Jnanpith award, one of the biggest literary awards in the country, on Friday.
He is the sixth Malayalam writer to win the prestigious award after G Sankarakurup, Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, SK Pottekkad, MT Vasudevan Nair and ONV Kurup. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 11 lakh in addition to a sculpture.
Akkitham Achuthan Namboodiri, the philosopher-poet believes in the ultimate power of love. He advocates for a universal love towards everything that exists in Nature, a sort of leitmotif that resonates all throughout his poetic creations.
The nonagenarian’s well-known works were recently translated into English by bilingual writer and poet PKN Panicker and published as ‘Selected Poems of Akkitham – from God’s Own Country’.
Brought out by Authors Press, the book, while seeking to shed light on the poetic life and works of one of the greatest poets in Malayalam, is also part of an ongoing effort by the translator to ensure that “Malayalam writers, their writings, their perception of world events and Kerala’s culture is accessible to the world to study and appreciate.”
This rare collection subtly serves to portray a poet whose avowed ideals and poetic musings have been misunderstood many a time. Once an active advocate of various social reforms, Akkitham was also conscious of the underlying fact that – to quote Panicker – “his vision was not born out of any political philosophy or class war, but the result of deep-rooted learnings from his childhood.” This was what spurred Akkitham on to look at life and society from an altogether different perspective from that of his peers.
Maybe that is why Akkitham while elaborating on his own poetry once said, “Happiness is merely a process of erasing sadness. There is only one remedy for pain and sadness – and that remedy is Love.”
In one of his poems ‘Science’ rendered on an anecdotal note, we are casually thrown into the company of a seemingly superstitious gentleman who is accosted by one with an avowed scientific bent of mind, only to have the tables subtly turned on him. Originally titled ‘Sasthram’ from the work Sparsamanikal, the poem revolves around an incident in the life of the world-renowned scientist Louis Pasteur.
In his long and fruitful life, the 93-year-old has penned hundreds of poems in addition to bringing out short story collections, essays and plays. He has won many awards and titles including honours from the Kerala Sahitya Academy and the Kendra Sahitya Academy. In 2017, he was bestowed with the Padma Shri.
Akkitham believes in the coexistence of the physical and the metaphysical in a seamless web woven by the universe itself. Rather than attempting to arrive at a scientific backing of all that is there to comprehend, he is one who accepts truth for what it is. Such an utter lack of scepticism is what makes it difficult for a section of readers and critics to slot him into any one particular category.
Like his close associate Jeevan Kottavattam points out, “Akkitham has lived and still lives as a true Gandhian, wearing Khadi and not being ashamed of it. He is from the vanishing Indian tribe which recollects the pathos of the freedom movement of the nation. Gandhian, yes. But he is also entrenched in the culture of this country. Thus even at this ripe old age of ninety, he involves himself with the organisation of Yajnas.”
A living poetical paradox indeed, far ahead of his times.
Retired college teacher has preserved his father’s diaries dating back to the 1930s
A diary written in ink, in the Malayalam of the 1930s, could be a bit difficult to read as many words are not in use now. However, for Poovathunkal K.J. Kurien, an 83-year-old retired college teacher, it is familiar terrain. He holds a collection of diaries written by his father Mathai Joseph from the age of 14 till his death in 2006 at the age of 107.
A printed diary of the 1930s, under the erstwhile Travancore kingdom, had a vastly different feel. Its initial pages had details of rules such as Nair Regulation Act, Ezhava Regulation Act, and Christian Regulation Acts, in addition to the charges of Anchal posts.
A diary printed by K.G. Parameswaran Pillai at Sri Rama Vilas Press, Kollam, has a black and white photo of the Travancore ruler and has Malayalam year and dates. Another one printed by K. Narayanan Vidyarambham Press, Mullackal, Alappuzha in 1951 is priced at ₹2.
Not just personal
Mr. Kurien has preserved the diaries at his ancestral house at Thudanganadu, near Muttom, in Idukki. When his father was bedridden, he had left a few pages of the diaries blank, in the hope of filling them later.
The diaries are not just personal accounts. They contain vivid portrayals of the social life of those times. Muttom was the earliest area of settlement in the low range of Idukki district. It was from here that people migrated to the the high ranges via Adimaly. The second route was through Kuttikanam to Upputhara.
Madambi link
Mr. Joseph’s connection to the then local ruler ‘Madambi’ at Ramapuram under the Travancore ruler is evident in the diaries. They have descriptions of the loans taken from the Madambi and repaid after the harvest season.
“Alappuzha was the main business centre then and the diaries have descriptions of his travel to Athirampuzha and Alappuzha in country boats via the Meenachil river,” says Mr. Kurien. Mr. Joseph had sold spices there and purchased rice from Alappuzha. He was instrumental in bringing many others to Thudanganadu and setting up a church and a school there. The diaries say that the first settlement in the district was on a hill as wild animals, including elephants, roamed the low-lying areas. His diaries unfold the stories of this settlement.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Kerala / by Gigi K Raman / Idukki – October 30th, 2019
Latha K, Chef Di Cuisine of Malabar Cafe, speaks about helming the cafe which recently won an award for the Best South Indian Restaurant
Kochi :
It is easy to take Latha K for an unassuming neighbourhood homemaker when she is not donning her professional garb. With her modest low bun and unpretentious round pottu, Latha does not really exude a hot-shot chef vibe at the outset. But with over three decades of experience in the culinary sphere, the Chef Di Cuisine of Malabar Cafe at Grand Hyatt Kochi Bolgatty has won the hotel the distinction of housing the Best South Indian Restaurant by Travel + Leisure India Magazine & South Asia’s Delicious Food Awards this year.
“This is the first national award the restaurant has won and it is a notable achievement,” says Latha. Her culinary ethos harps on serving authentic delicacies of Kerala for which she uses fresh spices ground by hand using mortar and pestle.
Born in a small village in Kozhikode, Latha’s resolve to become a chef developed early. She made her first dish, Kerala fish curry and rice, at age nine and was rewarded with compliments. Having honed her skills by observing her mother and grandmothers cooking in the kitchen, Latha took hotel management and that was where she came across her first hurdle. From being denied admission because she would be the only girl student in a batch of 27 boys to having to move to Chennai to complete her internship because no restaurant in Kozhikode would take her, Latha broke many glass ceilings to become Kerala’s first female chef.
“Women bring warmth and affection to the table, something that evokes nostalgia to the food we make. As the only south Indian live kitchen to have a sizeable number of women chefs, we are looking forward to adding more to the team,” says Latha, whose team of female chefs are piquantly referred to as the ‘spice girls’ at Hyatt. “In the last decade or so, a significant number of woman chefs have come to the forefront of the hospitality industry. Establishing oneself as a chef has become increasingly easier. This is a welcome development,” she adds.
Although well-versed in Thai, continental and middle-eastern cuisines, Latha says south Indian food is closest to her heart. “Kappad kaya curry, a chicken preparation, reminds me of my childhood. It is popular with fisherfolk and is prepared at the time of a festival. The dish is on the menu at Malabar Cafe and I relish cooking it,” says the chef.
Latha has gathered a treasure trove of more than 3,000 recipes over the years. She is currently working on a historical cookbook that will feature 350 traditional recipes from different parts of Kerala. “The book will also outline the cultural fabric Kerala cuisine is rooted in. The research for it has been expansive and exhaustive,” she concludes.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Kochi / by Swetha Kadiyala / Express News Service / October 26th, 2019
Writer and novelist Paul Zacharia has been selected for the Vallathol award instituted by Vallathol Sahithya Samithi for this year
Paul Zacharia
Thiruvananthapuram :
Writer and novelist Paul Zacharia has been selected for the Vallathol award instituted by Vallathol Sahithya Samithi for this year.
The award carries a cash prize of Rs 1.11 lakh and a plaque. The award will be handed over at a function at Teerthapada Mandapam in Thiruvananthapuram on October 16, the birth anniversary of Vallathol.
The winner was selected by a panel comprising R Ramachandran Nair, Deshamangalam Ramakrishnan, Prabha Varma, R Hemanth Kumar and Nandiyath Gopalakrishnan.
KG Chandrasekharan Nair, who translated classic Tamil literary works into Malayalam, will be awarded the Keerthimudra.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Express News Service / August 29th, 2019
Why is the industry, known for its realistic movies, suddenly making a strong showing abroad? Local stories filtered through a ‘new-gen’ lens is just one of the reasons
A village chasing a water buffalo running amok in the high ranges of Kattappana, in Kerala’s Idduki district, forms the story of Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Jallikattu . In Geetu Mohandas’ Moothon , a bi-lingual in Hindi and Malayalam, a 10-year-old leaves Lakshadweep in search of his elder brother who’s gone to Mumbai to look for work. Meanwhile, Sanal Kumar Sasidharan’s Chola, a road movie, tracks the misadventures of two teenagers who elope.
All three films, part of a new wave in Malayalam cinema that is erasing the line between mainstream and arthouse conventions, are creating ripples of excitement. And all three are premièring at prestigious festivals abroad: Jallikattu and Moothon at the Toronto International Film Festival (September 5-15) and Chola at the Venice Film Festival (August 28 – September 9).
There is more. Bijukumar Damodaran will be in Singapore to participate in the competition section of the Singapore South Asian International Film Festival (August 30-September 7) with Veyilmarangal . The film, which follows a labourer who migrates to North India for work, had premièred at the 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival in June and won the Outstanding Artistic Achievement award. His previous film, Painting Life, is still doing the rounds at international film fêtes. Jayaraj — whose Bhayanakam won the best cinematography award at the 2019 Beijing International Film Festival in April — is heading to the Cairo International Film Festival (November 20-29) with his new film, Roudram. It is about an elderly couple trapped in their house during the 2018 Kerala floods). And Uyare, about an acid attack victim’s fight for justice, is part of the Indian International Film Festival in Boston (September 13-15) and the Washington DC South Asian Film Festival (September 20-22).
Geetu Mohandas with directors Anurag Kashyap and Lijo Jose Pellissery
“It has been a long time coming. Of late, most of the films being made in Malayalam are of international standard, whether it be Kumbalangi Nights, Uyare, Thamasha, Virus or Unda…We punctuate our films with the times we live in, the political and cultural issues we are facing,” says actor Parvathy Thiruvothu, talking about the strong showing at international platforms. She adds that the “new crop of directors is bold enough to make the kind of films they want, instead of following a formula. But this success has not been achieved overnight. Lijo has been at it since his first film, City of God, which was not a commercial hit, but he did not give up his distinctive vision”.
Mohandas agrees. She underlines that film directors and scenarists today are narrating stories that are realistic, yet captivating. Much like Moothon. “Although the theme has been with me for some time, I took about two years to write the script. I made no compromises in any department of my film. It has been exhausting but totally worth it,” says the director, who is excited that her film will be screened at a venue with greats like Pedro Almodóvar.
A still from Jallikattu
Local themes, global reach
Sub-titling, availability on streaming platforms, and the buzz created by festivals have helped the regional film industry make an impression and reach audiences beyond just the hardcore Malayali viewership. “Also, over the last four or five years, a talented bunch — which includes people like scenarist Syam Pushkaran and filmmakers Aashiq Abu, Dileesh Pothan and the like — have changed the profile of Malayalam cinema , ” says film critic Baradwaj Rangan. “The industry has always had a tradition of great arthouse cinema, and masters like the late Padmarajan and Bharathan made mainstream cinema with a lot of artistic flourishes. But what this lot is doing is filtering the same through a new-gen lens, and that is extremely interesting.”
The emphasis is on local themes with a global resonance. “I try to tell stories that are rooted in our soil. I know the people, the premise. I don’t think I’d be able to do the same in a different place and a different setting. This is my comfort space and I’m able to explore the kind of films I want to do,” says Pellissery, who is already ensconced deep in the hills, shooting his next film.
A still from Roudram
Credit to IFFK?
The conviction to narrate local stories for a global audience also comes from a democratisation in cinema in the last 10 years. “Now, anyone, anywhere can view the best of world cinema. That has changed our perspective,” explains Zakariya Mohammed, director of multi-award-winning Sudani from Nigeria(2018).
Moreover, the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) in Thiruvananthapuram has also been steadily exposing cinephiles to world cinema, and shaping the tastes and views of filmmakers. Many in the current crop of avant garde filmmakers, such as Sasidharan and Damodaran are self-taught, while Pellissery and Mohammed cut their teeth in the ad industry. “It is not a direct connection, but there is a correlation with the fact that the IFFK has sourced some of the best of world cinema and brought it to Kerala. I feel that the more experimental films are being watched and talked about, the better it is,” says Bina Paul, artistic director of IFFK, and a programmer for several prestigious fêtes, both in India and abroad. “It also gives our filmmakers an opportunity to network and that is so important. Right now, when it comes to cinema in India, Kerala is the most exciting place to be in.”
Is there a formula to ensure a film is chosen at a festival? “Not really,” she says, adding that filmmakers and producers have become smarter and know how to network and market their films. However, the length of some of our films do test the patience of international audiences, she observes.
Festivals on the mind
Directors dismiss the notion that their films are made specifically for festivals. According to Pellissery, of all his features, only Jallikattu, completed last December, was targeted at a festival — and only because of its concept. “It is not awards that motivate me,” he says. “And I don’t see them as just festivals; I see them more as places where you can exhibit your films to a different kind of audience, in a different part of the world. That gives me a high, I guess.” Meanwhile, Nivin Pauly, who stars in Moothon, believes that good movies need to be watched and discussed wherever possible. “I’ve always wanted to take our films to a wider audience and I’m glad it’s been done with Moothon.”
Script, front and centre
Malayalam cinema, especially arthouse cinema (a categorisation that many directors rightfully object to), has never had it so good since the 70s and the 80s, when auteurs like Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G Aravindan, Shaji N Karun, Bharathan and KP Kumaran wowed cinéastes with their content and narrative style. The resurgence, feels director Jayaraj, is because of a combination of things. “The script is the star of the marquee now. And producers (many of whom are from within the industry) are willing to bankroll projects that veer away from the mundane, the conventional,” he says.
But, most importantly, young actors today — with no hang-ups about screen time or image — are bringing in a new kind of subtlety to their roles. Stepping out from reel locations, these characters inhabit small towns and villages, shanties and slums, and speak in the voice and dialect of the common man. If Dileesh Pothan’s Maheshinte Prathikaram (2016) celebrated Idukki, Eeeda(2018) focussed on a love story in Kannur. Sudani… was a paean to Malappuram’s craze for football, while Ee.Ma.Yau (2018) was located in Chellanam, a small coastal village near Kochi.
Confidence — in the story, its execution — is also making a big difference. “We have the conviction to take up experimental narratives and trust that the content will reach viewers,” says Damodaran, who believes that, more than big budgets, content matters. “I’ve made films on both shoe-string and lavish budgets. But to impress curators, it is technical finesse, narratives and themes that matter,” he adds.
Actors like Thiruvothu are excited to be a part of this generation of Malayalam cinema. “When I started out, we had lost our game for a while, though movies like Salt N’ Pepper,Traffic and City of God were pointers. Some were commercial successes, but not all clicked. Lijo once told me there will be martyrs, but we have to keep pushing the envelope. We used to watch cult classics in the 80s. Now cult classics are being made for youngsters today. It is an exciting phase for all of us.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Entertainment> Movies / by Saraswathy Nagarajan / August 23rd, 2019
Santhosh Thottingal wins national recognition for the pioneering work
Until the middle of the past decade, typing Malayalam on the computer was not as easy as it is today. That was around the time when a group of technology and language enthusiasts got together under the banner of Swathanthra Malayalam Computing (SMC) with the aim of “my language for my computer”.
Within a few years, their efforts paid off, with the development of tools and fonts in the Unicode system, enabling a standardised Malayalam script in computers, which is now commonly used in everything from government orders to online newspapers to Internet memes.
Chosen for award
Santhosh Thottingal, a software engineer who played a key role in this transformation, has now been chosen for the Maharshi Badrayan Vyas Samman by the President in recognition of his contributions to Malayalam language. A principal software engineer with the language engineering team of Wikimedia Foundation, Mr. Thottingal is behind some of the most commonly used fonts like Manjari and Chilanka.
Free software
“I was active with the free software movement during my college days. The assumption then was that local languages are unsuitable for computers. That is when I came across the work done by a team of Indian Institute of Science (IISc) scientists to develop text-to-speech system for palm-held devices in Kannada. I tried to make something similar in Malayalam when I realised that we have to address the fundamental issues first — being able to type in a proper form in Malayalam. Our attempt through SMC was to build a foundation for Malayalam computing,” he says.
The technology for Malayalam fonts was much more complicated than for English. In Malayalam, the combined letters (Koottaksharam) and their shifting patterns had to be coded. He set aside his spare time for five years to perfect these.
History of the language
“We had to learn the core of Malayalam, how the language has been portrayed and the history of printing in Kerala. That is when we realised that the ‘old Malayalam lipi’ was much more scientific and beautiful. The ‘new lipi’ was developed around the 1980s, cutting down the number of letters and separating the combined letters, under the assumption that the old one could not be replicated on computers,” he says.
Following the work of SMC and the release of fonts in the ‘old lipi’, the Kerala government, in 2010, issued an order that all official communication online should shift to the old system.
Voluntary
“All of our work is voluntary and does not generate any revenue, although this work did secure me a job with Wikimedia,” says Santosh. Now he is about to finish an even more important project, to “teach Malayalam grammar to the computer”.
“Now, the computer understands Malayalam only as a sequence of bytes. It does not understand the language like it does English, which enables the working of devices like Alexa and Siri. For that, grammar has to be algorithmically represented and machine-translated. The work is almost over,” he says.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by S.R. Parveen / Thiruvananthapuram – August 18th, 2019
P N Das completed his college education at Sree Neelakanta Government Sanskrit College, Pattambi, and wrote several articles in various periodicals, including the banned magazine ‘Prasakthi’.
Writer and teacher P N Das (File Photo |EPS)
Kozhikode :
Writer and teacher P N Das died at Government Medical College Hospital here on July 28. He was 72. Das was undergoing treatment for brain infection.
The writer who penned several books was a recipient of the K R Namboothiri endowment award, instituted by Kerala Sahitya Akademi, for the book ‘Oru Thullivelicham’ in 2014. ‘Bhodi Vrikshathinet Ilakal’, ‘Dyanapadangal’, ‘Jeevitha Ganam’, are among his other works. Das completed his college education at Sree Neelakanta Government Sanskrit College, Pattambi, and wrote several articles in various periodicals, including the banned magazine ‘Prasakthi’.
He was also detained during emergency. The body will be kept at his house in Thalakkulathur and at Town Hall for public homage on Monday, following which he will be cremated at 11 am.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Express News Service / July 29th, 2019
Beyond boundaries: Unnikrishnan’s (inset) newspaper collection documents the transition to advanced printing technology and from black and white to colour.
Kaloor Unnikrishnan’s collection of newspapers and magazines is a trove of routine events and milestones
From Indira Gandhi’s death in the now-defunct Kerala Times to the careers of yesteryear movie stars in film magazines, Kaloor Unnikrishnan’s collection of newspapers and magazines is a trove of both routine events and milestones from India and abroad.
The oldest publications in Mr. Unnikrishnan’s possession are Mathrubhumi and Manorama weeklies from 1932 and 1933 that he procured from a friend.
He began collecting newspapers as a teenager in 1965, when his letters to the editor of Mathrubhumi would appear on most days of the week.
When he began interviewing celebrities for film magazines later, he collected those too, and the occasional interest developed into a hobby. He would buy newspapers and magazines on his travels and received international publications like The New York Times, Washington Post and magazines from Israel and the UAE, from his friends.
Mr. Unnikrishnan’s collection documents transformations in printing and prices.
“More than half of the magazines and newspapers in my collection don’t exist anymore. Of the nearly 60 film magazines that used to exist at one point, only around 15 survive today,” said the 64-year-old whose three-day exhibition of the collection concluded on Saturday.
The collection also documents transitions to more advanced printing technology and from black and white to colour. He has a copy of the Mathrubhumi’s first colour edition out of Kochi in 1985, which also bore news of poet Vyloppilli’s death.
Besides dailies, he collects children’s magazines and bulletins. He takes no special care to store them, he said, and has lost a few weeklies to dampness in the monsoon.
“If libraries or other organisations are willing to take them and care for them, I’ll gladly give them away,” he added.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Staff Reporter / Kochi – July 28th, 2019
About 140 movies for children will be screened within a span of seven days.
Thiruvananthapuram :
‘The Witch Hunters’, ‘The Day My Father Became a Bush’, ‘A Horse on the Balcony’, ‘Long Way North’, ‘Mother I Love You’, ‘The Ugly Duckling’ and Indian feature films like ‘Kakka Muttai’, ‘Chor: The Bicycle’ and ‘Hamid’ will be among the movies screened at the Second International Children’s Film Festival of Kerala(ICFFK) in the capital. The exclusive film festival for kids above the age of five will kickstart on May 10. The registration for the fest has crossed 1,000 on Monday and the online booking is open and buzzing.
About 140 movies for children will be screened within a span of seven days. The platform is open for all children and entry can be availed online or through office registration with a nominal fee. ICFFK, which will conclude on May 10, is organised by Kerala State Council for Child Welfare in alliance with Kerala State Film Development Corporation, Kerala Institute of Children’s Literature and Kerala Sahithya Academy. Films will be screened from 9 am till 6 pm.
“Our intention is to open the world of cinema to children, especially the ones from the marginalised community, who do not have much knowledge about the film industry. While IFFK is for adults, ICFFK is for children to develop their skills in reviewing a movie and realise their expertise in theatre arts,” said V K Sashidharan, programme officer.
The fest will be held in five venues in the city; Kairali, Nila, Sree, Kalabhavan and Tagore. The movie will be followed by open forums and workshops wherein children will get a chance to interact with film personalities. The District Council for Child Welfare ensures the participation of children from the isolated parts of the State.
These children, mainly from the slums and tribal area will be provided transportation, food and registration charges by the State Council for Child Welfare. A public screening will be held in Nishagandhi auditorium on during the fest at 5 pm.Screening of movies, short films and documentaries written, directed and acted by children forms the central attraction of ICFFK 2019. Awards will be also given for the best actors, directors and scriptwriters.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Express News Service / April 30th, 2019
