40th edition of IFFI kicks off in Goa tomorrow
Panaji | Sunday, Nov 22 2009 IST
 

The 40th edition of the prestigious star-studded International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will start here tomorrow amid tight security cover of the paramilitary forces.

Kala Academy, the main venue of the festival and its peripheral structures including the Macqueniz place housing the host Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) and INOX multiplex, had been spruced up to greet the 5,765 delegtates besides 320 mediapersons from across the country.

Goa has been the permanent venue of the IFFI organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) under the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, and the Goa Government since 2004.

The 11-day event kick starts from Kala Academy here with the screening of the inaugural Chinese film ''Wheat''. The film is set in 260 BC when China was mired in a long and bloody war between the Qin and the Zhao that could not be settled for decades.

Veteran Film Actress Waheeda Rehman will be the Chief Guest at the inaugural ceremony. Governor Dr S S Sidhu, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and Union I&B Minister Ambika Soni will grace the occasion.

Wellknown South Indian actress Asin would be special guest for lighting the ceremonial lamp. Internationally renowned actor Kabir Bedi and artist Divya Dutta would be compeering the opening ceremony.

The Festival would conclude on December 3 with the presentation of Golden and Silver Peacock Awards for Best Film and Best Director, the Special Jury Awards as also the Vasudha and Golden Lamp Tree Awards for the short films. Malayalam Star Mammootty will be the Chief Guest at the Closing Ceremony.

For the first time in the history of the IFFI, according to DFF Director S M Khan, the organisers had introduced the Golden Peacock award with Rs 40 lakh prize money to be shared between best Director and Producer.

The best director and special jury award carry Silver Peacock with Rs 15 lakh prize money.

''This is for the first time that such a huge money (Rs 70 lakh) had been offered to the best amounting to 1.4 lakh dollars, the highest of the awards at the international level for the films so far,'' Mr Khan added.

The extravaganza is divided into various sections: Film Programmes, Non Film Programmes, Film Bazaar, Short Film Centre and Cultural Activities. The Film Programming is the core of the festival and screens nearly 300 films during the period of 11 days across 10 Auditoria and three preview rooms in the cities of Panaji and Margao in Goa.

The most popular sections in the film programming include competitions for feature films from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Cinema of the World, Tributes, Homages, Retrospectives, Country Focus films, Indian Panorama and specially curated sections.

The ''Cinema of the World'' section this year will showcase more than 55 films from around 47 countries. A specialised competition for feature films from Asia, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Africa is also being organised.

Two Indian entries, Atanu Ghosh's Bengali film ''Angshumaner Chhobi'' and Satish Manwar's Marathi film ''Gabricha Paus'' have been selected for the ''Competition Section'' among 13 other films chosen from Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Kazakhstan, Iran, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, Sri -Lanka, Taiwan and Argentina.

The Competition jury is headed by the noted Director from Brazil Joao Batista de Andrade. Other members of the jury include Vic Sarin (Canada), Kenichi Okubu (Tokyo), Sarika (India) and Jean-Michel Frodon (France).

''Film India Worldwide'' is another major attraction under this category, which will screen films produced by Non Resident Indians in collaboration with foreign filmmakers. Films from Croatia, Estonia, Italy, and Poland will be screened under the ''Country Focus'' section.

The films of Gurinder Chadha, Nonzee Nimibutr, Roland Reber and Manoel de Oliveira will be screened under ''Foreign Retrospectives''. A special section will showcase renowned French films. Other sections include ''War & Peace'' and ''Digital Section'' that will screen a total of 11 films.

Besides, a special tribute would be paid to the much-accomplished Brazilian Director as well as the head of the Jury Mr Andrade.

The Indian Section at IFFI - 2009 would be under nine different segments with screening of 77 films. The Indian Panorama at IFFI 2009 would present a bouquet of 44 films, 26 feature films and 18 non-feature films.

-- (UNI) -- 22BY1.xml

 

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