On December 13, the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) kicked off in the Indian state of Kerala, with Armenia as this year’s focus. The opening ceremony was attended by Marat Melikyan, the Counsellor of the Armenian Embassy in India, along with Armenian filmmakers Mikael Dovlatyan, Nora Armani, Serge Avetisyan, and the producer of “Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev”, Karine Simonyan.
The lineup of Armenian films scheduled for screening on various days of the festival includes works by directors Nora Martirosyan (“When the Wind Calms”, Mikael Dovlatyan (“Labyrinths”), Edgar Baghdasaryan (“Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev”), Maria Sahakyan (“The Lighthouse”), Michael Goorjian (“Amerikatsi”), Serge Avetisyan (“Lost in Armenia”, “The Parajanov Scandal”), and Jivan Avetisyan (“Gate to Heaven”).
The opening ceremony featured speeches by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, renowned Indian actress Shabana Azmi, Hong Kong actress, director, screenwriter, and producer Ann Hui, among others. The event was also attended by leaders of various state departments, representatives of diplomatic missions, filmmakers, film critics, actors, artists, and more.
“For us, it’s about the younger generation and their impact. Armenian cinema is evolving, and the Armenian government is now actively supports collaborations, including with India,” said Mikael Dovlatyan in the festival’s official daily bulletin.
Following the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, the co-production “Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev”, partially funded by the Russian state budget, faced challenges. The film did not receive a distribution license in the Russian Federation, limiting its release there. However, “Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev” was included in the long list for the Academy Award in the Best International Feature Film category.
“I am thankful to the Kerala film festival for screening the movie. It was rejected by Russia because of the critical views on the Ukraine war by its actor who played Brezhnev,” said the film’s producer Karine Simonyan in an interview with The Times of India.
The festival, organized by the Kerala Chalachitra Academy, will showcase 114 films in various Indian languages across 15 theaters in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram, along with 63 foreign films from 68 countries.
