The Kerala government on Tuesday directed the organisers of the 2025 International Film Festival of Kerala to go ahead with its full screening schedule, including 14 films for which the Union government had not granted permission, The Hindu reported.

State Minister for Cultural Affairs Saji Cherian directed the State Chalachitra Academy to screen all the films on the schedule of the event. He accused the Centre of adopting “an anti-democratic approach towards Kerala's progressive art and cultural tradition”, The Hindu reported.

The event in Thiruvananthapuram began on December 12 and will conclude on December 19.

The Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry had earlier denied permission to screen 19 films, including four about Palestine. The ministry later allowed five films, including two about Palestine, to be shown.

The five films for which permission was initially withheld but later granted were Beef, Eagles of The Republic, Heart of The Wolf, Yes, and Once Upon A Time In Gaza.

The films about Palestine that were denied permission were Palestine 36 and All That’s Left of You. The titles had already had an initial screening at the festival.

Palestine 36, an Arabic and English language movie, was the inaugural film of the event.

No reasons were provided for denying permission for the screenings, The Hindu quoted an unidentified official of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy as saying.

The other films that were denied permission are A Poet: Unconcealed Poetry, Bamako, director Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925...

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