THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Defusing the crisis related to the delay in giving censor exemption certificates for 19 international films, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has issued the required documents for nine more films, while six more films are yet to receive the nod.

Chalachithra Academy vice-chairperson Cuckoo Parameswaran said that only six more films remain to receive censor exemption certificates from the Union ministry, while all others have received the certificates.

“Naturally, the I&B ministry will be looking for any issues that will cause any conflict of interest with India’s international affairs. This is not a competition between I&B and Chalachithra Academy,” she told TNIE. Meanwhile, sources from the academy said that, except for one film, screening of these 19 films was done only after obtaining the Union government’s nod.

On the other hand, criticisms are raised against the festival’s procedural lapses. Film curator and 2022 IFFK’s artistic director Deepika Suseelan wrote on Facebook that misrepresenting such lapses as political or ideological only diverts attention from the real issue.

“What is now being framed as an attack on freedom of expression is, in reality, a case of procedural failure followed by convenient posturing,” she noted.