Panaji, Nov19 (Representative) The 53rd edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is set to open here tomorrow. A total of 280 films from 79 countries are to be screened during the 8 day long festival. One of Asia’s oldest film festivals is set to open with Austrian Director Dieter Berner’s Alma and Oskar. The opening ceremony of the festival will held at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium at Taleigao near the city. Film personalities Mrunal Takhur, Varun Dhawan, Catherine Teresa, Sara Ali Khan, Karthik Aryan and Amritha Khanvilkar will grace the opening ceremony. Governor of Goa P S Sreedharan, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur and Minister of State for I&B Dr L Murugan will also be present at the opening.
Opening ceremony will see many cultural performances featuring top film celebrities from across India and will also include music and dance groups all across the globe. Among them – a stellar flamenco performance by artists from Spain. The theme of the opening ceremony is “Evolution of Indian Cinema in the last 100 years.” The Austrian film, Alma and Oskar, directed by Dieter Berner, will open the festival, an official statement said. Red Carpet for opening film will commence at INOX-I at the festival venue followed by the screening of the film. Polish film Krzysztof Zanussi’s Perfect Number is the closing film. Fixation, a 2022 film set in Germany, Canada and the USA, by Mercedes Bryce Morgan is the mid-fest film. As many as 25 feature films and 19 non-feature films from India will be showcased in the ‘Indian Panorama’ while 183 films will be a part of international programming. The festival will present a special section for Asha Parekh, the 52nd Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner, with the screening of three films, namely, Teesri Manzil, Do Badan and Kati Patang. On the occasion of completion of 50 years of Manipuri Cinema, a specially curated package of five Feature and five Non-Feature films, curated by Manipur State Films Film Development Society, will be screened under Indian Panorama.
As an initiative to promote films from North-East India, 5 feature and 5 non-feature films, will mark golden jubilee of Manipuri cinema. There will be special screenings of Pan Nalin’s Chello Show—The Last Film Show, India’s official entry to the Oscars in the Best Foreign Language category, and Madhur Bhandarkar’s India Lockdown. Films from National Film Archives of India will be showcased by the NFDC in the ‘Indian Restored Classics’ section. These include Sohrab Modi’s 1957 costume drama Nausherwan-E-Adil, Ramesh Maheshwary’s 1969 National Award-winning Punjabi film Nanak Nam Jahaz Hai, K Vishwanath’s 1980 Telugu musical drama Sankarabharnam and two Satyajit Ray classics, the 1977 period drama Shatranj Ke Khiladi and the 1989 social, Ganashatru. Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement award is being conferred on Spanish film director Carlos Saura. His daughter Anna Saura will accept the Award on behalf of the eminent filmmaker, at the opening ceremony. A retrospective of his oeuvre is being showcased at the festival. France is the ‘Spotlight’ country and 8 films will be screened under Country Focus package. ‘Film Bazaar’ will screen some of the finest films and filmmakers in various sections. For the first time, Pavilions will make an appearance at IFFI in line with major international markets like the Marche du Cannes. This year, there will be a total of 42 Pavilions.
They will house the film offices of the various state governments, the participating countries, industry players and media units from the ministry. This will also be the first time when many restored classics will be available at ‘The Viewing Room’ where one would be able to buy the rights of these films and use them at film festivals across the globe. The ‘Homage’ section will include fifteen Indian and five international films. Tributes will be paid to Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar, singer-composer Bappi Lahiri, Kathak maestro Pt. Birju Maharaj, actors Ramesh Deo and Maheshwari Amma, singer KK, director Tarun, Mr Nipon Das Assamese actor and theater artist, Majumder and singer Bhupinder Singh. Whereas in International section, Festival will pay homage to the genius of Bob Rafelson, Ivan Reitman, Peter Bogdanovich, Douglas Trumbell and Monica Vitti. As many as 320 police personnel are to be deployed on the day of inauguration of the festival, a state government official said.