30th International Film Festival of Kerala to open with ‘Palestine 36’ film
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): The 30th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) beginning here on December 12, will open with the film “Palestine 36,” directed by Annemarie Jacir.
The film is an epic historical drama which portrays the Palestinian uprising against the British colonisation.
The opening film takes its name from the year when Palestine began to revolt against British rule and Zionism, a release from the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, the organisers of the event, said on Sunday.
The IFFK, which enters its 30th edition, will be held at the state capital here from December 12 to 19.
The inaugural film was awarded the best film at the Tokyo International Film Festival and was Palestine's official entry for the best international feature film at the 98th Academy Awards.
Another film by Jacir, ‘Wajib’ for which she won the IFFK's Golden Crow Pheasant in 2017 will also be screened as part of the package of films which won Suvarna Chakoram in the early editions of the IFFK.
The Chalachitra Academy also announced that the Lifetime Achievement Award of the 30th IFFK will be conferred on renowned Malian filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako, in recognition of his profound contribution to world cinema.
Born in Kiffa, Mauritania, Sissako’s family moved to Mali, where he spent his childhood. He made his first short film Le Jeu (The Game) in 1989 as his graduation project.
His full-length feature film debut, Life on Earth (La Vie Sur Terre), released in 1999, was featured in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival that year, and the definitive breakout hit was the 2014 film "Timbuktu."
Sissako's films are primarily focused on globalisation, displacement, exile, identity, and the struggles of everyday life in Africa, which helped bring African cinema into the global spotlight.
Sissako’s five films will be screened this year at IFFK. Life on Earth (1999), Waiting for Happiness (2002), Bamako (2006), Timbuktu (2014), and Black Tea (2004) are the movies to be screened at the festival.
The IFFK’s lifetime achievement award, introduced in 2009, is presented to a filmmaker who made significant contributions to the art of cinema during their career.
Earlier recipients of the award include Jean-Luc-Godard, Werner Herzog, Fernando Solanas, Alexander Sokurov, Jiri Menzel, Majid Majidi and Bela Tarr.
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Equity markets decline in early trade dragged by services, realty stocks, FII outflows
Mumbai (PTI): Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade on Monday weighed down by losses in services and realty stocks and sustained foreign fund outflows.
The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 316.52 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 85,395.85 in the morning trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty declined by 106.70 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 26,079.75.
From the Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti Suzuki India, Asian Paints, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, ICICI Bank, PowerGrid, Hindustan Unilever and Larsen & Toubro were the laggards.
However, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Eternal, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Tata Consultancy Services, Trent, HCL Technologies and Tata Steel were among the gainers.
"Emerging positive and negative news have the potential to keep the market volatile in the near-term. Robust economic growth and indications of earnings growth revival are supportive of markets.
"The massive fiscal and monetary stimulus to the economy this year has contributed to sharp revival in GDP growth as evidenced by the 8.2 per cent Q2 GDP growth print, and RBI's upward revision of FY 26 GDP growth to 7.3 per cent augurs well for the market," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Ltd, said.
He noted that low GDP deflator, consequent to low inflation, has impacted nominal GDP growth and corporate earnings growth. But from the leading indicators it is clear that about 15 per cent earnings growth is achievable in FY27. This is positive for the market.
"However, there are strong negatives, too, which can impact the market. Sustained depreciation of the rupee has been forcing FIIs to sell in the market continuously," Vijayakumar added.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 438.90 crore on Friday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth Rs 4,189.17 crore, according to exchange data.
In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and South Korea's Kospi were trading in the green territory while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was quoting in the red zone.
US markets ended higher on Friday.
"American equities posted modest, broad-based gains last week, supported by softer inflation data and resilient macroeconomic indicators that sustained expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts," Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research, HDFC Securities, said.
He noted that investors positioned cautiously ahead of the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, additional inflation releases, and year-end portfolio adjustments.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.13 per cent, to USD 63.83 per barrel.
On Friday, the 30-share BSE Sensex benchmark advanced 447.05 points to settle at 85,712.37, while the 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 152.70 points to close at 26,186.45.
