In an year in which the State faced a historic deluge, one of the highlights of the 23rd International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) will be the films under the ‘The Human Spirit: Films on Hope and Rebuilding’ package.
Vellapokkathil will be one of the movies to be screened under the package. The film from Malayalam Cinema's veteran director Jayaraj is based on Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai’s short story of the same title. The film was the recipient of the 2007 National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film Direction. Set in the backdrop of the 1924 floods, to which the 2018 floods has often been compared, the film revolves around a pet dog - Appu - who gets isolated in the deluge.
As a mark of respect to Nelson Mandela, Justin Chadwick’s Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom will be screened under the package as part of the revolutionary leader’s birth centenary.
Another film in the package is Before the floods , directed by Fisher Stevens. It looks at how climate change affects our environment and what society can do to prevent the demise of endangered species, ecosystems and native communities across the planet. Actor and United Nations Messenger of Peace, Leonardo DiCaprio, travels the globe to witness firsthand the effects of an impending environmental disaster.
Beasts of the Southern Wild , directed by Benh Zeitlin, tells the story of six-year-old, Hushpuppy, who lives with her father, Wink, in a remote Delta community.
Wink is a stern taskmaster but he is preparing his young daughter for the end of the world. When Wink falls mysteriously ill, nature seems to fall ill with him.
Temperature rise, the ice caps melt and fearsome prehistoric beasts called aurochs run loose. Rising waters threaten to engulf their community, sending Hushpuppy in search of her long-lost mother.
The other films in the package are Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto , Fisher Stevens’s Before the Flood , and Wim Wenders’s Pope Francis: A Man of His Word.
