International Film Festival of Kerala to Open with Javier Bardem & Penelope Cruz's 'Everybody Knows'

The 23rd International Film Festival of Kerala will open with Asghar Farhadi’s Everybody Knows. The film starring Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz was also the opening film at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival in competition.

The film revolves around Penélope Cruz as Laura is a Spanish woman living in Buenos Aires, who returns with her children to her hometown outside Madrid for a wedding. However, the trip is disturbed by startling events that bring many secrets into the open.

Talking about the film festival, IFFK is conducted every year by Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, a Kerala Government Institution to promote cinema. The major highlight of the festival is its competition that includes varied films from Asian and African and Latin American countries. The best feature film is honoured with Golden Crow Pheasant Award along with a cash prize INR 15 lakhs (approximate 30,000 US dollars) which is shared between the director and the producer.

Following the devastating floods in the region this year the state film body released a statement saying that the 23rd edition of the gala will be held on a "limited scale".

The week-long festival will screen more than 150 films from 70 countries. With “rebuilding” as its theme for this year, the festival strives to reflect the experience of the recent floods. It will also feature a retrospective of the veteran Malayalam film producer Lenin Rajendran.

Earlier, IANS reported that the uncertainty around whether the movie jamboree will be held or not loomed large due to the paucity of funds as the state is presently going through a rebuilding process after being hit by the worst ever floods in August.

It was decided in August that all events which require funding from the state government will be cancelled, and this event also came under the hammer. But later, the state government gave a green signal to the film festival.

The IFFK will be held from December 7-13.