Censor exemption transforms from a routine process to a roadblock for film festivals and filmmakers
Censor exemption issues threaten film festivals in Kerala, potentially blocking screenings of 31 politically sensitive films.
The upcoming International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala faces the prospect of not screening as many as 31 films that were denied exemption mainly due to their political content
Published - September 21, 2026 07:00 am IST - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
Censor exemption process for film screenings at film festivals is increasingly becoming a roadblock for festival organisers and filmmakers with several instances of screenings being prevented, beginning from the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) last year, some other smaller festivals and now the upcoming International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK), which faces the prospect of not screening as many as 31 films that were denied exemption mainly due to their political content.
According to sources in the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, the organiser of the IFFK and IDSFFK, the censor exemption process used to be a routine process till about a decade ago. The list of films to be screened at a particular festival and the synopsis of the films were forwarded to the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry, which would clear the list as it is. The process was put in place as a good number of the films at festivals were uncensored. The exemption process was seen as an official sign of approval for festival screenings, which are meant for a limited crowd of delegates, film professionals and scholars. This time around, the Ministry officials demanded the screeners (video link)of some of the films before denying exemption.
One of the first instances of the censor exemption being denied was at the 2016 edition of the IFFK, when the Union ministry’s denial prevented the screening of Majid Majidi’s Muhammed-The messenger of God and Ka Bodyscapes by Jayan Cherian. In 2017, during the 10th edition of the IDSFFK, exemption was denied to three documentary films, dealing with Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) protests, the unrest in Kashmir, and on the Rohith Vemula issue.
At the 2019 IDSFFK, Anand Patwardhan’s documentary Vivek (Reason), which documented the murders of rationalists, secularists and common people by religious fundamentalists since 2014, could be screened only after Mr. Patwardhan and the academy got a favourable order from the Kerala High Court, after the Ministry denied exemption.
At the 30th IFFK last year, 19 films were denied exemption. Among the films which have been denied screening included Palestinian films Palestine 36, Once Upon a Time in Gaza, All That’s Left of You and Wajib, as well as Sergei Eisenstein’s Soviet-era classic Battleship Potemkin, considered as a defining work of modern cinema.
Last week, the screening of Malayalam documentary filmmaker Ramdas Kadavallur’s Sathyapullu (Magical Grass) at the 5th World Film Festival in Kolkata, organised by the Film Society Federation of India, was cancelled owing to lack of censor clearance.
Documentary filmmaker Rakesh Sharma, whose Final Solution, a documentation of the Gujarat riots of 2002, has faced several issues with its screenings, said that such draconian censorship at any international film festival is absurd. “Film festivals do not have open public screenings. Their delegates are filmmakers, technicians, critics, film students and cinephiles, who do not need nannies from the I&B Ministry to decide what they can or cannot watch. What is the Modi government afraid of? Why try to suppress films about injustices, discrimination, democracy, protests and war?” he asked.
Meanwhile, the chalachitra academy on Sunday officially wrote to the I&B Ministry asking it to reconsider its decision. It said that the cancellation of the screenings will affect the smooth conduct of the festival.
Published - September 21, 2026 07:00 am IST
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