Kerala’s enduring fascination for legendary French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard

International Film Festival of Kerala conferred on the director Lifetime Achievement award in 2021

Film buffs in Kerala will have their own personal favourites to pick from the extensive oeuvre of legendary French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 91. But one enduring personal memory for all of them perhaps would be the image of him speaking directly to them through a video conference from his home at the opening ceremony of the 25th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) in 2021.

The filmmaker, who famously refused to accept an honorary Oscar some years ago, made the appearance to accept the Lifetime Achievement award conferred on him by the IFFK.

Lighting up a cigar on screen, he thanked the IFFK for screening good and sensible films and expressed joy at the fact that five of his films are being screened too. “I am sorry for speaking in the tongue of the dominators (English)," he said, amid loud cheers.

Filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, who received the award in his absence, remembered Godard as someone who rewrote the grammar of cinema.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had after presenting the award recollected the filmmaker’s part in raising voice against the Vietnam war, the attacks on Palestine and in lending support to the May 1968 protests in Paris. In his condolence note on Tuesday, Mr. Vijayan wrote that the filmmaker had played a key role in bringing Left progressive ideas on to the screen.

Film editor Bina Paul, former festival director of the IFFK, remembers the several attempts made to bring Godard to Kerala, with COVID-19 spoiling the plans in 2021. During his 75th birthday, the IFFK had a special package titled 'Happy Birthday Monsieur Godard'.

The adulation he has been receiving here is a reflection of the kind of influence he has had on film viewers as well as a generation of filmmakers. One might not be able to draw a straight line from the French new wave, pioneered by Godard, François Truffaut and others to the Malayalam new wave of the 1960s and 70s, but there certainly have been influences.