Kozhikode: With the advent of November, Chendamangallur Higher Secondary School here is in the grip of film fever as it is the time to host their annual film festival. This fest is a 'curtain raiser' to the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) which is scheduled to be held in Thiruvananthapuram next month.
Chendamangallur school's film fest is in the third year, organised by the 'Disha' media club. The aim is to bring students to the vast world of filmdom, to discuss issues and stories being faced by different kinds of people across the world.
"The attempt is to present film as a serious medium to the issues of the world," says N.K. Saleem, convenor of the club and teacher at the school.
This time, the two-day fest will be kickstarted on Nov 8 in which 15 selected films will be screened. Award winning Malayalam film, Newton is the inaugural movie. 'The way home', Turtles Can Fly, Life Is Beautiful, Everest, Gravity and The Great Dictator are some of the films to be screened. Theatre personalities, Savithri Sreedaran and Sarasa Balusserry, who acted in the Malayalam flick Sudani from Nigeria, are the chief guests on the inaugural.
As many as 15 projectors were set in 15 class rooms to exhibit the films.
Besides open forum and discussion, the students' crew who worked behind the short film, The life of a Syrian, will be felicitated.
The two-day fete will be concluded with the musical fusion of the school's own band, 'The Beatles'.
"The film fest is an eye opener to the world. It brings before us the lives of peoples across continent, religion, race and ethnicity. We are attracted towards the cinema through the film fest," beams Hannan Hasan. K, a plus-two student.
