A scene from Annemarie Jacir’s historical drama ‘Palestine 36’
Annemarie Jacir’s historical drama Palestine 36, set around the Palestinian uprising against British colonial rule and Zionism in the 1930s, will be the opening film of the 30th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), which is set to begin in the capital on December 12. The film follows Yusuf as he navigates between his quiet rural home and the tense streets of Jerusalem amid the Palestinian revolt against British rule and the influx of Jewish immigrants.
The 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. Jacir’s Wajib, which won the Golden Crow Pheasant at the IFFK in 2017, will also be screened as part of the films which won Suvarna Chakoram in the early editions of the IFFK.
Filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako
The Lifetime Achievement Award of the 30th IFFK will be presented to acclaimed filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako, in honour of his contributions 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. His 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.
His film Waiting for Happiness, earned the prestigious FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Timbuktu, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film brought him his most widespread acclaim.
Sissako’s five films will be screened this year – Life on Earth (1999), Waiting for Happiness (2002), Bamako (2006), Timbuktu (2014) and Black Tea (2024).
The Lifetime Achievement Award, introduced in 2009 is bestowed upon a filmmaker who made significant contributions to the art of cinema during their career. The first recipient was Mrinal Sen. Other notable awardees include Jean-Luc Godard, Werner Herzog, Fernando Solanas, Alexander Sokurov, Jiří Menzel, Majid Majidi and Béla Tarr.
Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof
Acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof will serve as the Jury Chairperson for the International Competition at the 30th IFFK. Rasoulof won eight awards at the Cannes Film Festival from just four films, including The Seed of the Sacred Fig, which received four awards at Cannes last year. Rasoulof has long been subjected to censorship and punitive action by the Iranian government because of his commitment to independent filmmaking. Forced into exile, he currently resides in Germany. Although he has directed five feature films, none of them has been allowed to be released in Iran. In 2010, he was arrested while filming with Jafar Panahi and was subsequently sentenced to six years in prison.
Published – December 07, 2025 07:24 pm IST
