Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 17 (PTI) Amid widespread public outrage over the Centre’s denial of censorship exemption to 15 films at the ongoing IFFK event, a former artistic director of the film festival on Wednesday claimed that procedural lapses on the part of the organisers had led to the fiasco and warned against blaming political targeting.
Deepika Suseelan, who was the artistic director of the 27th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) in 2022, said misrepresenting procedural lapses as political or ideological targeting only diverts attention from the real issue, which is failure to follow the due process.
She also questioned the intention behind the organisers opting for “public outrage,” over the issue rather than sticking to procedures.
“If one is committed to freedom of expression and institutional integrity, the least expectation (from them) is adherence to protocol and timelines, not public grandstanding after administrative negligence,” she said in a Facebook post.
She said the censor exemption process is not instantaneous and it requires a minimum of one month that gives enough time to respond to clarifications sought.
For a festival happening in December, the list of films that need censor exemption along with synopses and other documents need to be submitted at least by the first week of November, which had been the usual practice in previous IFFKs, she said.
The festival is supposed to have the exemption order 15 days before the commencement of the event. Reports clearly indicate that the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy (KSCA), the organisers of the event, submitted the application only in December, she added.
The 30th IFFK event that kicked off on December 12, will go on till the 19th of this month.
Quoting reports, Suseelan said that the KSCA had initially received an official communication from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting denying censor exemption for all the films, citing late submission as the sole reason.
If exemption is denied, the reason for which Ministry will never clarify, there are clear and lawful avenues available to contest and defend the decision, for which the application should have been given well in advance, she said.
“Instead of pursuing due process, the organisers seem to have opted for public outrage, which raises serious questions about intent. If the objective was a PR (publicity) stunt, then the purpose has been served,” she charged.
She said the KSCA’s “mishandling” endangers upcoming editions of IFFK, inviting heightened scrutiny, tighter controls, and avoidable complications for future submissions, screenings, and participation of international filmmakers.
“The damage caused here will not be easy to undo,” she said, adding that using this platform for PR stunts at the expense of the audience is irresponsible and undermines everything that the festival claims to stand for.
The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had earlier denied censorship exemption to 19 films to be screened at the festival, but later four films were cleared.
However, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday directed the KSCA that all the films scheduled for the festival should be screened.
Meanwhile, the absence of KSCA chairman Resul Pookutty during the event due to prior commitments abroad had raised eyebrows, with noted film directors stating that it was disappointing.
Film director and former KSCA chairman Kamal said a situation without the head of the festival’s attendance could have been avoided.
Filmmaker Dr Biju said it was for the first time that an IFFK is being held without the chairman or an artistic director. It is disappointing and the Academy should not have taken things very lightly, he said. PTI MVG MVG SA
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