The Fortieth International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will feature 200 films from about 50 countries. For the first time, it has instituted an award for the best director. Around 1,200 seats have been added with the inclusion of Ravindra Bhawan in Margao as an IFFI venue, and 100 seats have been added to the Kala Academy auditoriums in Panjim.
The ‘Cinema of the World’ section has about 65 films from 45 countries. The continent focus is on Africa and Latin America, while the country focus is on Italy, France, Poland, Croatia and Estonia.
‘Film India Worldwide’ will feature films made by Indians abroad on NRI issues. Retrospectives in the foreign films category will include Gurinder Chadha (UK), Manuel de Oliveira (Portugal) and Nonzee Nimibutr (Thailand). Five anti-war films will also be shown in a special section.
Festival Director S M Khan said, “The best film award will be shared by both the director and the producer of the film.” The winning film gets the prestigious Golden Peacock and Rs 40 lakh in cash. The Best Director and the winner of the Special Jury Award get the Silver Peacock and cash of Rs 15 lakh each.
The Indian Panorama will showcase 47 films – 26 feature and 21 non-feature films. The National Film Archive of India, Pune, will screen five vintage musicals and three classic National Award winning movies – ‘Do Ankhen Baara Haath’ (1957), ‘Sagar Sangam’ (1958) and ‘Apur Sansar’ (1959).
Tributes to late Indian film personalities will include Nilu Phule, Prakash Mehra, Shakti Samanta, Feroz Khan and Leela Naidu, among others. Films Division, Mumbai, will show documentaries on Indian musicians including Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Ustad Bismillah Khan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pandit Jasraj, Naushad, K L Saigal, Begum Akhtar and Mohammad Rafi.
Retrospectives in the Indian section will include films from Assam, as the Assamese film industry is 60 years old. Films of Jahnu Barua, Bhabhendranath Saikia, Santwana Bardoloj and Sanjeev Hazarika will be showcased.
The retrospective will also feature films of artistes who have completed 50 years in the film industry. Two movies each of Kamal Hassan, Asha Parekh and Saumitra Chatterjee will be shown. Spoof Cinema, mocking popular cinema, is the new entrant in this festival, including films like ‘Malegaon ka Superman’ and ‘Gabbarbhai MBBS’.
Shiamak Davar will hold a lecture-demonstration on ‘Evolution of Dance in Hindi Cinema’, while Kishwar Desai will speak on ‘Hindi Films based on book adaptations’.
Screening of war movies: Four movies from across the globe that narrate stories of war its effect on humans are to be screened during the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2009, which begins from November 23. These films will be a part of special section, ‘War and Peace’, curated by the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG).
The Chetan Anand-directed Hindi film ‘Haqeeqat’ (1964), set on the Sino-India war of 1962, kicks off the section. “The concept is anti-war. Men fight and women suffer, as they get widowed,” ESG CEO Manoj Srivastava said.
It will also feature the Oscar-winning film ‘No Man’s Land’ (2001), a tragic story set in the Bosnian war.
[Source]
