Out of the 19 films initially denied permission, four, including Once Upon a Time in Gaza, were later approved by the I&B ministry.
The Film and Television Institute of India Students’ Association (FTIISA) Tuesday condemned the denial of censor exemption by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) to several films to be screened at the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), saying that it is an act of “cultural vandalism” and an “unmistakable assertion of state control over artistic circulation.”
A statement by FTIISA president Amritanshu Singh Yadav and general secretary Ajmal Shah read, “(FTIISA) unequivocally condemns the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting’s deliberate withholding of screening exemptions for multiple films at the International Film Festival of Kerala.”
“IFFK is not a peripheral cultural event; it is one of the very few remaining public spaces in the country where cinema exists beyond commercial diktats and ideological surveillance. To obstruct its screenings through bureaucratic denial is an act of cultural vandalism and an unmistakable assertion of state control over artistic circulation,” it added.
In film festivals, movies without a Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) certificate are usually screened after obtaining a special exemption certificate from the I&B ministry. However, the non-availability of this certificate has triggered the current disruption at IFFK, which is in its 30th year.
The FTIISA statement added that in India, where film consumption has been ‘hollowed out by a market-driven exhibition system’, festivals like IFFK survive because they resist this ‘narrowing of cinematic experience’.
Multiple films related to Palestine, such as Palestine 36, were denied permission at IFFK. Out of the 19 films initially denied permission, four, including Once Upon a Time in Gaza, were later approved by the I&B ministry.
FTIISA’s statement said, “The targeting of Palestinian cinema in particular reveals how geopolitical allegiance and ideological discomfort are now being allowed to determine what Indian audiences are permitted to see. This is not regulation; it is censorship by omission.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Kerala government announced that it had decided to defy the I&B ministry and screen all films denied permission by it.
Expressing support for this move, the statement said, “FTIISA stands in complete solidarity with the organisers of IFFK, the filmmakers, and the audiences whose right to view cinema has been deliberately curtailed. We note and strongly welcome the Government of Kerala’s decision to screen all films as scheduled despite the denial of clearance, affirming its commitment to artistic freedom and cultural plurality.”
