After the 26th International Film Festival of Kerala 2022 came to an end on March 25, the movie buffs are excited for the next event which is Regional International Film Festival of Kerala (RIFFK), scheduled to be held from 1st April to 5th in Kochi, Kerala. Directed by Abdullah Mohammad Saad, the Bangladeshi film ‘Rehana Maryam Noor’ will be the opening film of RIFFK 2022.
Saritha, Savitha, and Kavitha theatres in Kochi will screen the films selected for the festival.
“The Opening Film of RIFFK Kochi is Abdullah Mohammad Saad’s Rehana Maryam Noor, a microcosmic exploration of Bangladeshi society, through the eyes of Rehana, a single mother & an assistant professor at a medical college whose life changes when she witnesses an incident involving her student, as she resists the strictures of the patriarchal society that she lives in to seek justice & retribution. It was the first Bangladeshi film to screen in the Un Certain Regard section at the Festival de Cannes, and also the Bangladeshi entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards,” an announcement made by the officials of the film festival via the IFFK official Facebook handle read.
The film is about the struggling life of a 37-year-old assistant professor of a medical college. It was internationally distributed by German-based sales and distribution company Films Boutique. In 2021, it was selected in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. Rehana Maryam Noor bagged two awards at Asia Pacific Screen Awards. The director of the film Abdullah Mohammad Saad bagged the Jury Grand Prize and actress Azmeri Haque Badhon bagged award in Best Performance by an Actress category.
Meanwhile, RIFFK has planned to pay homage to the late veteran actress KPAC Lalitha with a special show by screening Jayaraj Nair’s directorial film ‘Shantham’ on the fourth day of the film festival.