WANA (Dec 08) – The 30th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) in India has announced its official lineup, featuring several notable works from Iranian filmmakers.

 

Shahram Mokri’s feature film Black Rabbit, White Rabbit has been selected for the festival’s International Competition section, while Jafar Panahi’s A Simple Accident will be screened in the “Festival Favorites” category.

 

In a special section dedicated to past winners of the festival’s prestigious Golden Crow Pheasant Award for Best Film, the festival will showcase four acclaimed Iranian titles: About Elly by Asghar Farhadi, Dark Room by Rouhollah Hejazi, Parviz directed by Majid Barzegar, and 10 + 4 by Mania Akbari.

 

This year, renowned Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof will serve as the president of the jury for the festival’s main competition. Other jury members include Spanish actress Ángela Molina, Vietnamese filmmaker and writer Bùi Thạc Chuyên, Malaysian director Edmund Yeo, and British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri.

 

Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako will receive the festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award, accompanied by screenings of five of his films: Life on Earth (1999), Waiting for Happiness (2002), Bamako (2006), Timbuktu (2014), and Black Tea (2024).

 

Established in 2009, the IFFK Lifetime Achievement Award honors filmmakers with significant contributions to cinema. Previous recipients include Mrinal Sen, Jean-Luc Godard, Werner Herzog, Fernando Solanas, Alexander Sokurov, Jiří Menzel, Majid Majidi, and Béla Tarr.

 

The 30th Kerala International Film Festival will run from December 12 to 19, with Palestine 36 by Annemarie Jacir chosen as this year’s opening film.

30th Kerala International Film Festival. Social media/ WANA News Agency

30th Kerala International Film Festival. Social media/ WANA News Agency