The curtains of 19th IFFK will be raised within a few hours, as Chief Minister of Kerala Oommen Chandy will inaugurate the festival at 5.30 PM. The minister for Cinema Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan will preside over the function.

The opening film of the festival is Eran Riklis’s ‘Dancing Arabs’. The movie showcases the story of a young Arab who tries to find his lost identity. The movie has been previously screened in some International Film Festivals and the reviews about the film were highly positive in nature. The lead actor of the film, Tawfeek Barhom will be present during the time of screening in IFFK.

The festival will run through December 19th, and in this seven day course, more than 140 films will get screened in Thiruvananthapuram. Some of the sections which categorize cinema in the festival includes, International Competition, World Cinema, Contemporary Master, Retrospective, Indian Cinema, Malayalam Cinema Today, Country Focus, Jury Films, Chinese Film Package and French Film Package.

More than 9000 delegate passes have been issued as of now, and the organizers are trying their best to conduct the event in a hassle free manner. Earlier, controversies were triggered up due to the discrepancies and rules which were imposed on the delegate pass issuing method.