The film is directed by Leon Dai and produced by Chan Wan Qi. The Golden Peacock award carries a citation and an award of Rs 40 lakh, which is shared by the director and the producer.

South Korean Director Ounie Leconte bagged the Silver Peacock best director award for her French-South Korean film A Brand New Life. Leconte pursed a cheque of Rs 15 lakh and a citation.

Georgian filmmaker George Ovashvili for his film The Other Bank bagged the Special Jury award of Rs 15 lakh.

Malayalam actor Mammootty was the chief guest for the award ceremony, which was also attended by Union Minister of State for Information and broadcasting S Jagatrakshan, Governor Dr Shivendra Singh Sidhu, Chief Minister Digamabar Kamat, Union Joint Secretary for I & B Mr Pyarelal and Goa Chief Secretary Sanjay Srivastava, DFF Director S M Khan, ESG CEO Manoj Srivastava and others

The above films were chosen by a five-member competition jury out of 15 entries in the Competition Section from Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, China/UK, Georgia/Kazakhstan, Iran, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, South Korea/France, Sri Lanka and Taiwan including two films from India.

The competition jury was headed by the noted Director from Brazil Joao Batista de Andrade. Other members of the jury were Kenichi Okubu (Japan), Jean-Michel Frodon (France), Ms Sarika (India) and Vic Sarin (Canada).

The Festival concluded today with the screening of the Spanish film The Broken Embraces, directed by Pedro Almodovar and a cultural programme.

The 11-day extravaganza, which began on November 23, with the screening of He Ping’s “Wheat” witnessed screening of 300 films from 47 countries, which was a real treat to watch. In the international section, a total of 145 films were shown in 18 categories.

These included 54 in Cinema of the World, 15 in the Competition, five in the Focus on Latin America. And 23 in the Country Focus. Films from Croatia, Estonia, Italy and Poland were screened under Country Focus section.

The films of Gurinder Chadha, Manoel de Oliviera and Nonjee Nimibutr were screened in Retrospectives Section. Four films were shown in Film India Worldwide.Besides there were special tributes to Joao Batista and Ronald Raber.

King Khan had inaugurated IFFI 2007 and he was the cynosure of all eyes. And now his friend, theatre actor Makrand Deshpande intends to recreate the magic again through his flick ‘Shah Rukh Bola Tu Khoobsurat Hai.’

“I would have like invite Shah Rukh here for the premier of the film but he said that he will attend the opening night,” Deshpande said.

The debutante director hopes to release the film commercially somewhere in the first quarter of the year 2010.The fiction film revolves around a flower girl whose life changes with few magical words uttered by Shah Rukh.

“One day the girl is in very bad mood when Shah Rukh who passes by the street in the car says ‘tu khoobsurat hai’ (you are beautiful), which changes her life,” the director stated.

Deshpande, who is predominantly a theatre actor, says that he has witnessed the iconic growth of a super star from the days of TV serial ‘Circus’.

“In 1989-90, when Shah Rukh came from Delhi, he was very charming man and very fine actor. In the Circus people watched his performance and even the crew members felt that he is a star,” said Makrand, who has also acted with Khan in ‘Swades’.

“It’s very interesting to see how he (SRK) came up from being a hero to superstar,” Deshpande quipped. “I have witnessed a superstar…SRK is iconic,” he added.

The actor feels that donning a hat of film director was not much difficult for him after having experienced the theatre. “It has not been so difficult. I did not really know when I said action. I think I was always a director,” he said.

Talking of difference between theatre and cinema, Deshpande said that in theatre you perform for the person in last row while in cinema you perform for the person in first row. Makrant said being an film actor helped him in directing the movie.”I am an actor, writer and director and it helped me during this film,” he said.

Curtains will rise on the International Film Festival of India 2009 on November 23, with nearly 6,000 delegates and around 350 media persons, besides a number of national and international film personalities as well as delegations from the film and film-related industries attending the 11-day mega film event.

The renowned actress, Waheeda Rehman will inaugurate the 40th edition of the prestigious film festival in the presence of the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Ms Ambika Soni, the Governor, Dr S S Siddhu, the Chief Minister, Mr Digambar Kamat, the I&B secretary, Mr Raghu Menon and the director of film festivals, Mr S M Khan. The new generation actress, Asin will be the special guest, while internationally famed actor, Kabir Bedi and noted film artist, Divya Dutta will compere the opening ceremony.

The inaugural session will be followed by a dance performance by the troupe of well-known Bharatnatyam dancer, Leela Samson, and the inaugural film ‘Wheat’, a Chinese production.

The International Section at the IFFI 2009 will include Cinema of the World category, having 55 films from 45 countries. Another important component of the Foreign Section would be retrospectives of well-known Directors namely Gurinder Chadha, Nonzee Nimabitur, Roland Reber, Joao Batista and Manoel De Olivera.

The Continent Focus, this year is on Latin America, while the Country Focus would be on Croatia, Italy, Poland, Estonia and France. Film India Worldwide is another attraction in the Cinema of World category, which will showcase films made by non-resident Indians (NRIs) in collaboration with foreign filmmakers. There is also a section on Anti-war Films.

The international jury at the festival comprises of prominent directors/actors/film critics from different part of the world namely Joao Batista de Andrade (Chairman), Vic Sarin (Canada), Ken’ichi Okubo (Japan), Jean-Michel Frodon (France) and Sarika (India).

The Indian Panorama will showcase 26 feature films and 18 non-feature films. These includes films such as ‘Shob Charitro Kalponik’ (Bengali), ‘Kaminey’ (Hindi), ‘Harishchandrachi Factory’ (Marathi), ‘Ijjodu’ (Kannada), ‘Pasanga’ (Tamil), ‘Kutty Srank’ (Malayalam) and ‘Haat -  The Weekly Bazaar’ (Rajasthani).

The bouquet of non-feature films includes ‘Bilal’ (Bengali), ‘What If?’ (English), ‘Superman of Malegaon’ (Hindi), ‘Illisa Anagi Mahao’ (Manipuri) and ‘Kelkkunnundo (Malayalam)’.

The Indian Panorama will open with the Konkani feature film, ‘Paltadcho Munis’ directed by Laxmikant Shetgaonkar and English non-feature film,  ‘Dot in for Motion’ directed by Anirban Datta.

The list of ‘Indian Premieres’ section includes films namely ‘Red Alert’ (Hindi) directed by Ananth Mahadevan, ‘And it Goes’ (English) directed by Amol Palekar, ‘Vimukhti’ (Kannada) directed by P Sheshadri, ‘I am 24’ (Hindi) directed by Saurabh Shukla, ‘Shahrukh Bola Khubsoorat Hai Tu’ (Hindi) directed by Makrand Deshpande and ‘God Lives in the Himalayas’ (English) directed by Sanjeev Srinivas, besides ‘Zagor’, a Konkani film directed by Sangram Gaikwad and ‘Janma’, a Marathi production directed by Tapan Acharya, both Goan entries.

The festival film screenings at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, will be inaugurated on November 24, while the same day will witness inauguration of ‘India – The Big Picture’ conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry as well as Film Bazaar conducted by the National Film Development Corporation.

‘Moments with Maestros’, a section including bouquet of films on Indian music exponents would be presented by Films Division, and also inaugurated on November 24, in the presence of the santoor maestro, Pt Shivkumar Sharma, actor, Vishwajeet and music directors, Ravi as well as Anandji (Kalyanji-Anandji), besides Nirmala Devi, wife of the late music director Pt Husnalal. The section will open with a documentary on the legendary playback singer, Mohammed Rafi.

[Source]

Chinese film “Wheat” directed by He Peng will kick-off the 40th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), on November 23, at Kala Academy.

“The 11-day festival, which will screen over 300 films, from November 23 to December 3, will be inaugurated by veteran actress Waheeda Rehman at Kala Academy at 5.30 pm,” Chief Minister Digamabar Kamat told reporters here.

Kamat further said that the Spanish film “Broken Embrace”, directed by Pedro Almodovar will be screened at the concluding function of the festival on December 3.

“Mamoothy will be chief guest at the closing ceremony,” he said.

Director of the Film Festivals (DFF) S M Khan said that this years IFFI will have several new sections.

“Apart from Indian Panorama, Indian premiere, country focus, continent focus, retrospectives, homage and tributes, cinema of the world, environment awards, short-films etc, this year’s edition will see several new sections including spoof films, Telugu musical hits, celebration of 75 years of Assamese cinema among others,” Khan said.

He also disclosed that legendary actress Waheeda Rehman, Tamil actress Asin and Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni will be present at the inauguration ceremony on Monday.

Giving further details, Khan said the ‘Cinema of the world’ section will showcase more than 55 films.

“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, which has 13 other films from Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Kazakhstan, Iran, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Argentina,” he said.

Khan further said that the jury for the competition section is headed by noted director from Brazil, Joao Batista de Andrade.

“Other members of the jury are Vic Sarin (Canada), Kenichi Okubu (Tokyo), Sarika (India) and Jean-Michel Frodon (France),” he said adding “films from Croatia, Estonia, Italy and Poland will be featured in the country focus section.”

The retrospective section includes films by Indian-origin director Gurinder Chaddha, Nonzee Nimibutr (Thailand), Roland Reber (Germany) and Manoel Oliveira (Portugal).

The top prize at IFFI — the Golden Peacock for the festival’s best film — is Rs 40 lakh along with a golden peacock statuette, he said.

[Source]

The entertainment society of Goa (ESG), co-host of the 40th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), has held its central government partner Directorate of film festivals (DFF) responsible for not inviting legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan to grace the festival.

Bachchan has not been invited ever since IFFI shifted to Goa in 2003.

“We always feel that we need Amitabh Bachchan. It would be great to have him at the IFFI,” Rajendra Talak member of the red carpet committee, which oversees the logistical arrangement for the glamorous event at the IFFI told IANS.

Talak however said that the ESG’s major chore as a state government entity was to take care of logistics and execution of the film festival arrangements, rather than conceptualising the event. “Even if we feel we need Amitabh, what can we do? It is only up to the DFF… We are not even allowed to recommend any names to them,” he said.

Talak refused to comment on whether Bachchan’s political affiliations had anything to do with the superstar not being formally invited to the IFFI.

During a press conference in October Amitabh Bachchan, who was in the company of Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, had expressed his wish to attend the IFFI in Goa. When asked by reporters why he had never been invited to the film festival, Bachchan had quipped: “You should ask those people who do the inviting.”

[Source]

“The Shopping festival will offer various discounts at the shops alongside the 18 June Road, which is close to the IFFI venue” GCCI Retail Committee Chairman Kirit Maganlal told reporters while addressing a press conference in the city.

He said that the festival will be held for the first time and if it goes well it could become an annual feature during the days of the film festival in Goa.

The festival will be inaugurated on November 22, after the launch of IFFI.

It is estimated that close to 6,500 delegates will visit the festival from Goa and outside, besides foreign visitors and dignitaries.

“GCCI plans to have daily draws amongst shoppers of these IFFI partner establishments wherein the winners, besides enjoying attractive discounts, will also stand to win grand prizes. GCCI and ESG will work towards bringing various celebrities attending IFFI, out in festival parades across the 18th June road. This will give the locals as well as the delegates an opportunity to spot the stars,” Maganlal said.

[Source]

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]

Indian animation characters will rub shoulders with international and Indian cinema icons at the International Film Festival of India(Iffi) 2009.

The film festival which will kick-start in Goa on November 23, will have a special retrospective of Indian animated films, showcasing nearly 50 films produced in India.

The Animation Society of India (TASI), has joined hands with the state government’s Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) to curate this section. This is for the first time in any international film festival that a special section is devoted to Indian animated films, said the ESG’s chief executive officer, Manoj Srivastava. A wide spectrum of films, ranging from early to the latest animated flicks, will be presented under this section.

[Source]