THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The International Film Festival of Kerala is scheduled to commence on February 10th in Trivandrum and the closing ceremony will be on March 5th in Palakkad. The main center of the festival in Trivandrum will be the Tagore theatre. Kairali, Sri, Nila, and Nishagandhi are the other theatres selected for screening in Trivandrum.

80 films are ready for screening in 4 venues in 6 theatres ensuring a safe ambiance for cinephiles to enjoy hassle-free movie-watching. Over 50 films are selected under eight categories including International Competition, Indian Cinema Now, Homage, World Cinema. In this, the World Cinema Category has the majority of films. Movies like 'Another Round' by Thomas Vinterberg, 'Wife Of A Spy' by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 'The Wasteland' by Ahmed Bahrami are the major highlights in this category.

The festival strictly adheres to all covid protocols. All Delegates, officials, volunteers and duty staff attending the festival will be taken for free antigen tests arranged by the Kerala Chalachitra academy and the health department of Kerala. Those who submit a covid negative test result taken 48hours prior from other hospitals and laboratories will also be allowed entry into the fest, said Academy Secretary Ajoy Chandran.

The distribution of festival passes and kits will begin on the 8th of February. Counters set up in Tagore theatre at Trivandrum will function to distribute the passes and kits. The free antigen tests will also take place alongside the pass distribution.

The festival will take place from February 17-21 at Kochi, February 23-27 at Thalassery and March 1-5 in Palakad.