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), scheduled to begin in the capital on December 12. The film follows Yusuf as he navigates between ten quiet streets of the British countryside and Jerusalem. influx of Jewish immigrants. The film was awarded Best Film at the Tokyo International Film Festival and was Palestine’s official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards. Jacir’s Wajib, which won the Pheasant Golden Crow at MFFK in 2017, will also be screened as part of the Suvarna Chakoram winning films in early editions of MFFK.
Filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako
The 30th MFFK Lifetime Achievement Award will be awarded to acclaimed filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako in honor of his 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 debut feature Life on Earth (La Vie Sur Terre), released in 1999, was screened in the Directors’ Fortnight side panel at the Cannes Film Festival that year, and the definitive hit was Timbuktu in 2014. His films primarily focus on globalization, displacement, exile, identity and the struggles of everyday life in Africa, which have helped bring African cinema into the global spotlight. His film Waiting for Happiness won the prestigious FIPRESCI Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Timbuktu, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, brought him his greatest recognition. Five films by Sissako 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 given to a filmmaker who has made a significant contribution to the art of cinema during their career. The first awardee 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 be the chairman of the jury of the international competition at the 30th edition of the MFFK. Rasoulof has won eight awards at the Cannes Film Festival from just four films, including The Sacred Fig Seed, which won four awards at Cannes last year. Rasoulof has long been subject to censorship and repressive measures by the Iranian government due to his commitment to independent filmmaking. Forced into exile, he currently resides in Germany. Although he directed five feature films, none of them were allowed to be released in Iran. In 2010, he was arrested while filming with Jafar Panahi and subsequently sentenced to six years in prison.
Published – 07 Dec 2025 19:24 IST
