‘The Phone Call and ‘Following Nazarin’ would open 8th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (8th IDSFFK-2005)

The eighth International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK) will begin in Thiruvananthapuram on June 26 at the Kairali, Sree and Nila cinemas. ‘The Phone Call,’ directed by Mat Kirkby, and Javier Espada’s ‘Following Nazarin’ would open the five-day festival.Director Mat Kirby’s short film "The Phone Call" ,an Academy award winner,"tells a wrenching story of loss and depression that somehow by the end is so uplifting you’ll wonder how it can do in 20 minutes what some full length features can’t in two hours. The short stars Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner Sally Hawkins as a woman who works in a helpline call center. Academy Award winner Jim Broadbent is the caller; a man considering suicide after his wife has recently died."The Phone Call" was the winner of Best Narrative Short at the Tribeca Film Festival this year, winner of the Silver Dragon for Best Fiction Short at the Krakow Film Festival and winner of Special Audience Recognition and Youth Jury Awards at Aspen Shortsfest, among others.Winning at Tribeca meant that "The Phone Call" automatically became eligible for the Best Live Action Short Academy Award. The Academy is currently screening the eligible shorts now, but we're confident a nomination is on its way". (Casey Cipriani | Indiewire).The other film "Following Nazarin" goes back to the places where the movie "Nazarin" by Luis Bunuel was filmed. 

“Even if it's very traditional and predictable in its formal approach, Behind Nazarin (Tras Nazarín: El eco de una tierra en otra tierra) is a warm, insightful and enjoyable work that explores the Mexican locations where the remarkable Nazarín, one of the masterpieces by the great Luis Buñuel, was filmed five decades ago. Directed by the Spaniard Javier Espada (who previously made a good documentary about the legendary Spanish filmmaker in his 2008 debut. The Last Script: Remembering Luis Buñuel, co-directed with Gaizka Urresti), the film includes interviews with film personalities such as Carlos Reygadas and Jean-Claude Carrière, and mixes old pictures of the locations with how the places look today”( Joel Poblete –FIPRESCI)