KOCHI: The second edition of the 25th International Film Festival of Kerala begin here on Wednesday. The festival will be inaugurated by A K Balan, Minister for Cultural Affairs, at 6pm.

As many as 80 films will be screened in six theatres in Ernakulam under eight categories. The categories include Indian Cinema Now, Malayalam Cinema Today, Homage, and World Cinema.

The Bosnian film Quo Vadis, Aida? will be screened as the opening film. The film which depicts the aftermath of the Bosnian genocide has been shortlisted for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

The inaugural ceremony will be held in strict compliance with Covid standards, including thermal scanning. The inaugural ceremony will be held at Saritha theatre complex and T J Vinodh, MLA, will preside over the function. 

The ceremony kicks off with the lighting of 25 lamps to mark the last two-and-a-half decades of IFFK. Under the leadership of director K G George, 24 eminent personalities of the Malayalam film industry will light the lamps. Chalachithra Academy chairman Kamal, Vice-chairperson Bina Paul, secretary C Ajoy and representatives of various film organisations will be present on the occasion.

State capital city, for the first time was spread across four venues -- Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Thalassery and Palakkad. The Kochi-leg opened on a sour note with popular award-winning actor Salim Kumar expressing his ire that he was not invited for the event, despite him living in the district.

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