Thiruvanathapuram (Kerala) [India], December 16 (ANI): After the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting refused screening permission for several films at the International Film Festival of Kerala 2025, the Kerala CM, Pinarayi Vijayan, said that all films that were denied screening permission will be screened at the festival.

On his Facebook page, Kerala CM called the Union Government's decision to deny screening of scheduled films 'unacceptable'.

'The Union Government's decision to deny screening permission to films scheduled to be shown at the 30th International Film Festival of Kerala is unacceptable,' wrote CM Pinarayi Vijayan.

The state government described the ban on film screenings at IFFK 2025 as an example of 'dissenting voices and diverse creative expressions' in the country.

'The censorship imposed at the film festival is a stark example of the authoritarian rule of the Sangh Parivar regime, which seeks to suppress dissenting voices and diverse creative expressions in the country. Enlightened Kerala will not bow to such acts of censorship. All films that were denied screening permission will be screened at the festival,' said CM Pinarayi Vijayan.

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According to organisers, screenings of seven films scheduled over the last two days were stalled due to the absence of the mandatory exemption certificate. At present, 19 films have not received permission for screening.

Earlier, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor described the situation as 'most unfortunate.'

Taking to X, he wrote, 'It is most unfortunate that an unseemly controversy has arisen over the central government's denial of clearance to 19 films which were scheduled to be screened at the International Film Festival of Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram.'

Tharoor said that while the original list of films was much longer, several clearances were obtained after his 'intervention' with Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology and Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw.

'The original list was much longer, but several clearances were obtained after my intervention with Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw at the request of @resulp(Resul Pookutty), the chairman of the festival. The rest are awaiting clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs.'

Referring to some of the denied films, Tharoor said, The list of 19 films suggests an extraordinary degree of cinematic illiteracy on the part of the bureaucracy. To deny clearance to a classic like 'Battleship Potemkin', a 1928 film on the Russian Revolution which has been viewed by literally hundreds of millions around the world (and in India) over the last century, is laughable.

Denying permission to some Palestinian films reflects bureaucratic over-cautiousness rather than the cultural breadth of vision that should be involved when it comes to world cinema.

'Tharoor further urged both Minister Vaishnaw and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to grant 'expeditious clearance' to 'avoid any further embarrassment in the eyes of the cinema lovers of Kerala, and of the world.'

'I have urged both I&B Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw and EAM @DrSJaishankar to grant expeditious clearance and avoid any further embarrassment in the eyes of the cinema lovers of Kerala, and of the world,' Tharoor added.

The director Adoor Gopalakrishnan also expressed his displeasure over the banning of classic films like 'The Hour of the Furnaces' and 'Battleship Potemkin' and the Spanish film 'Beef' at the IFFK 2025.

While talking to ANI, Gopalakrishnan said, 'Films like 'Battleship Potemkin', 'The Hour of the Furnaces' are the classics of cinema. I studied those films in my school days, in my film institute days. So, it's like a joke to ban it because almost all of us have these films at home. We keep it as a textbook. So, you cannot stop.'

The director described the decision as the 'sheer lack of understanding' of the cinema by the organisers.

He continued, 'To advertise one's ignorance like this is very bad for the government, very bad for the people. They should reconsider the ban on these films, and their decisions should not be based solely on the titles. A film's title 'Beef' is not about eating cow meat. It is not about that So, the whole thing is based on a sheer lack of understanding of the medium of cinema. So, they should have some humility to learn. It looks like it is sheer ignorance, nothing else.'

In film festivals, movies without a Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) certificate are usually screened after obtaining a special 'exemption certificate' from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

However, the non-availability of this certificate has triggered the current disruption at IFFK 2025.

IFFK 2025 is set to take place till December 19, 2025. (ANI)