GOA: The Indian Panorama at the IFFI - 2009 was inaugurated by the Secretary - Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, (Government of India), Raghu Menon today.
The chairman and members of feature and non-feature film jury were felicitated on the occasion. Muzaffar Ali, chairperson of the feature film jury introduced the co-members of the jury Leslie Carvalho, Raja Mitra and Bobby Bedi.
Members of the non-feature film jury who were also present at the inaugural included Paromita Vohra, Sameer Hanchate and Kapilas Bhuyan.
Speaking on the occasion, Ali said, "Viewing 104 films to arrive at a decision to select the 26 films for the Indian Panorama Feature Film Section on the basis of the theme, structure, treatment and design of the film made for quite an enlightening experience."
He said that he was happy that the films presented a pan-Indian representation and hoped that the language of moving images would bring about a brotherhood world over and help get over armed conflicts.
Ali later urged the Secretary (I&B) to facilitate screening of such critically acclaimed films on Doordarshan, to not only help ensure a wider audience to these directors, but also to make good quality cinema available to larger number of people.
While the Konkani film Paltadcho Manis (The man Beyond the Bridge)‘ directed by Laxmikant Shetgaonkar was a unanimous decision of the jury to be the opening film for the Feature Film section, Dot In for Motion opened the Indian Panorama Non-Feature Film section.
During the 10-day film festival, of the 44 films that would be screened in the Indian Panorama, 26 will be feature and 18 non-feature films.
