NEW DELHI: The British film ‘West is West’ directed by Andy DeEmmony. Starring Om Puri, Robert Pugh and Jimi Mistry, is the opening film of the 41st International Film Festival of India commencing in Panaji on 22 November.
The festival will have a special Cannes Kaleidoscope 2010 with a comprehensive package of films that were shown at Cannes this year.
The films include ‘Film Socialism’ by Jean Lun Godard among others in the Festival which will conclude on 2 December.
There will also be a package of ten Iranian films with high aesthetic content to be represented by filmmakers, cast and crew members. IFFI will also feature retrospectives of Jan Jakub Kolski, Jim Jarmusch, Michael Cacoyannis, and Mira Nair.
Following the decision to open up the competition to all countries instead of only the third world, the competition section this year will have 18 films including three from India.
New awards - Best Actor and Best Actress – have also been introduced from this year. The Best Film would be awarded the Golden Peacock and a prize money of Rs 4 million, the Best Director would be awarded Silver Peacock and given prize money of Rs 1.5 million, the best Actor and actress would get Silver Peacocks and Rs 1 million each. The Special Jury Award will comprise Silver Peacock and rize money of Rs. 1.5 million.
A key aspect of the festival will be the commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of the Film and Television Institute of India. Five non-features curated by the Institute will be screened. Five Oriya films would be screened as part of the celebrations of the Platinum Jubilee of Oriya Cinema. Two films associated with the work of Dada Saheb Phalke Awardees V K Murti and D Ramanaidu would be screened. The birth centenary of luminaries of Indian Cinema including Ashok Kumar will be observed with the screening of their films. The Indian Panorama will feature 26 feature and 21 non-feature films.
There is a special screening of India’s Oscar entry ‘Peepli Live’ in the presence of important cast and crew members.
The country focus during the festival is on Sri Lanka, New Wave Taiwanese Cinema and a section on Australian Indigenous Fiction Films. IFFI would also pay homage to the Iconic French film maker, Eric Rohmer, who passed away this year. Six of his films would be screened.
The festival will be inaugurated by Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee in the presence of renowned film Producer and Director Yash Chopra who is the chief guest.
