The 30th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) is in crisis as the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has denied censor exemption to 19 films set for screening. Films like Palestine 36, Once Upon a Time in Gaza, All That’s Left of You, Wajib, and the Soviet classic Battleship Potemkin are affected. This is the first mass denial of censor exemption at the festival. Films at festivals need censor exemption from the Union Ministry, though they do not require censor certificates. There is no clear reason or pattern behind the denial. Even films cleared at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), such as the Spanish film Beef and Sandhya Suri’s Santosh, were refused permission. Santosh, which earned international acclaim, remains unreleased in India. Jury member Sandhya Suri is impacted. Films like Timbuktu and Bamako, directed by Lifetime Achievement honoree Abderrahmane Sissako, were also denied screening. Bamako critiques the role of the World Bank and IMF in Africa’s poverty. Other banned films include Egyptian drama Clash and Argentine director Fernando Solanas’s The Hour of the Furnaces, both screened in past IFFK editions. The aggrieved organisers scrambled to replace cancelled screenings, disappointing many delegates. Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary M.A. Baby criticized the move, saying, “These actions by the ministry are a sign of the dangerous situation that the country is currently heading towards.” He called it cultural sabotage and condemned the denial of Battleship Potemkin's screening, highlighting its global centenary celebrations.