The Kazhcha-Niv Independent Film Festival (KNIFF) is a film festival for independent cinema in India held annually in

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

. The festival debuted in 2017, and is hosted by

Kazhcha Chalachithra Vedi Kazhcha Chalachithra Vedi or Kazhcha Film Forum is a film collective in Kerala, India. It started in the year 2001 at Neyyattinkara thaluk in Thiruvananthapuram district as a collective effort of film lovers. It has produced three short films. I ...

, a local film society, in collaboration with

Niv Art Centre Niv Art Centre is an Indian Art and Cultural Organisation in New Delhi, established in 2008. It is running an independent film festival in Kerala called Kazhcha-Niv Indie film Fest (KNIFF) along with Kazhcha Chalachithra Vedi called (KNIFF). ...

, an Art and Cultural society in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

. The festival is held in December parallel to the

International Film Festival of Kerala The International Film Festival of Kerala (abbreviated as IFFK) is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. This film festival started in 1996 and is hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy ...

(IFFK).

History

The festival was launched to overcome the rejection process in the

. Director

Sanal Kumar Sasidharan Sanal Kumar Sasidharan (born 8 April 1977) is an Indian poet, lawyer, and filmmaker. Personal life Sanal Kumar Sasidharan was born in Perumkadavila village, Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala on 8 April 1977. He graduated in Zoology from VT ...

pulled his film, '' Sexy Durga'', which had previously won Tiger Award in the

International Film Festival Rotterdam The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental fi ...

(IFFR) from the Malayalam Cinema Today section of IFFK, and alleged that the festival was not giving due respect to independent films. Following the incident,

announced the new festival. The first year of the festival was inaugurated by

Anand Gandhi Anand Gandhi (born Anand Modi, 26 September 1980) is an Indian filmmaker, entrepreneur, media producer, innovator and systems researcher. He is also the founder/CEO of the Mumbai-based new media studio and systems think tank Memesys Culture Lab ...

, the director of ''Ship of Theseus''.

Festivals

2017

The 2017 edition presented ''

Karie '' Karie'' ( ml, കരി, English translation: ''charcoal'') is a 2015 Indian Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and P ...

'' directed by Shanavas Naranippuzha, a Malayalam satire on caste, ''An Insignificant Man'', ''Vith'', ''Thooppu'', ''Kothanodi'', ''Ralang Road'', ''The Golden Wing'', ''Machines'', ''Eli Eli Lama Sabachthani?'', ''Juze'', ''Ashwatthama'', ''A Billion Colour Story'', ''Turup'', ''Samantharashramangal'', ''Eight And A Half Intercuts: Life And Films Of K.G George'' and ''Richter Scale 7.6''.

2018

The 2018 edition took Inclusion as its theme and was inaugurated by

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

and

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

activist

Apurva Asrani Apurva Asrani (born 21 March 1978) is a National Award, Filmfare Award & Screen Award winning filmmaker based in Goa, India. He has written the human rights drama ''Aligarh'' (2016), the courtroom drama Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors (20 ...

. ''Bird of Dusk'', a documentary on

Rituparno Ghosh Rituparno Ghosh (31 August 1963 – 30 May 2013) was an Indian film director, actor, writer and lyricist. After pursuing a degree in economics, he started his career as a creative artist at an advertising agency. He received recognition for his ...

by Sangeeta Datta who challenged gender boundaries with this life and work, was the opening film.

References

External links

*{{Official website, https://www.kniff.in Indian film festivals