'Lihaaf' chosen for international competition in Kerala Film Fest

Renowned Urdu writer, Ismat Chughtai penned down a bold short story in 1942 called ‘Lihaaf’ based on homosexuality but even after 77 years, apart from a short film and a play, no filmmaker adapted this into a movie, taking into consideration all the trials the writer had to undergo after the story got published. However, a big fan of Urdu literature and Ismat Chughtai, filmmaker Rahat Kazmi has managed to get all the necessary copyrights from the family of the famous novelist.Yes, we are talking about 'Lihaaf: The Quilt'.
After unveiling the film’s poster at Cannes 2018 and premiering in the prestigious film festivals of the world namely Indisches Filmfestival (Stuttgart), Indo-German Filmweek (Berlin), Montgomery International Film Festival (USA), Singapore South Asian International Film Festival, Queer International Film Festival Playa del Carmen (Mexico), Jagran Film Festival (Mumbai) and Kolkata International Film Festival, the film is now all set to premiere at 24th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) next month. Not only this, the film has been selected to participate in the International Competition round along with films from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
IFFK is acknowledged as one of the leading cultural events in India. Commencing on December 6, 2019 in Thiruvananthapuram, the fest would go on till December 12, 2019. The eight days festival aims at presenting a selection of the best of World Cinema and a competition section exclusively for films from Asian, African and Latin American countries. The festival also showcases the best of Malayalam cinema for international audience. It is one of the prominent film festivals of India and is hosted by Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, on behalf of the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala. Over the years, the IFFK has come to be known as Asia’s best managed and probably the world’s most people-centered film festival.