The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has denied censor exemption for a total of 31 films scheduled to be screened at the 18th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK) here.

The denial of censor exemption is reminiscent of the manner in which the Union Ministry had clamped down on screenings at the 30th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) last year, during which 19 films were denied exemption, before clearing some.

The films being prevented from screening at the IDSFFK include 18 officially selected films for the festival, nine films in the International Non-Fiction section, three films in the Festival Winners section and one film from the Nepal Package. Malayalam film Globe is also among those denied permission.

Films screened at festivals do not require a censor certificate but need a censor exemption from the Union Ministry for them to be screened. The Kerala State Chalachitra Academy had submitted a list of 347 films to the Ministry seeking exemption from certification requirements. The application included a synopsis outlining the subject matter of each film. Subsequently, as requested by the Ministry, detailed synopses and screeners of 40 films were also submitted for review.

One of the films which was denied exemption is Sanitised Republic: Cast(e) and Contracts, which follows sanitation workers at Delhi’s Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital and Lady Hardinge Medical College who risked their lives working through the COVID-19 pandemic, only to lose their jobs in June 2022. Through their struggle for secure employment and dignity, the film examines the realities of contractual labour and the enduring relationship between caste and sanitation work in contemporary India.

Another documentary Parliament Street is about public memory, personal memories and history as it unfolded on a street of national importance.

Among the banned international documentaries, Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk offers an intimate, first-hand perspective of life in Gaza, told through a series of video calls between filmmaker Sepideh Farsi and young Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona.

Memories of a Window is set around the crackdown on protests in Iran, during which civilians begin documenting the unrest from behind windows.

Birds of War, among the banned films, draws from 13 years of personal archives spanning revolutions, war, and exile of a London-based Lebanese journalist and a Syrian activist, whose love story is used to frame the story of conflict.