Team Herald
PANJIM: ‘Saavat’, a Konkani non-feature film, is the lone Goan film that will be screened in the Indian Panorama section at the 55th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which will witness the largest number of film personalities during the nine-day event.
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This was revealed by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant during an interaction in the presence of Vice Chairperson, Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) Delilah Lobo and National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC) Managing Director Pritul Kumar unveiled key details about the festival, including its theme “Young Film makers- The Future is Now” and the launch of a new award for the Best Debut Director of an Indian feature film.
Sawant also revealed that the budget of the festival increased by 10 per cent but refused to divulge further details and conceded that crores of rupees were spent on the entire exercise.
Delilah urged Goans to visit the festival and watch some of the best movies made this year.
The CM said that over 270 films would be screened during the festival at six venues across the State.
Sawant said, “It will be a Goan festival and there will be a large number of world, Asian and Indian premiers at the festival. The opening and closing ceremony will be held at Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium. There will be facilities for the persons with disabilities (PwD) visitors to the festival. This year the main focus will be Australia. masterclasses will start from November 21 onwards.”
The CM said, “Saavat, a Konkani non-feature film, is the lone Goan film that will be screened in the Indian Panorama section this year. Music composer A R Rahman will pay tribute to legend Lata Mangeshkar during the Lata Mangeshkar Memorial talk. An IFFI fiesta will be held with a curated musical show which will be open for all. An IFFI parade will be held on Nov 22 from ESG to the Kala Academy. Arrangements for the free transfer of delegates between locations have been made. Rickshaws and electrical buses would be used for this purpose.”
“Around 6,507 delegates have registered for the festival with 1,196 film professionals and around 1,288 students signing up. Diwali lanterns would light the path of the parade,” he said.
“Talukas around Goa were encouraged to have competition and fifty were selected with Rs 500 given to each participant. Prizes will be given to each taluka by SAG which secured the first three positions. In the Goan section, 25 films were considered and 14 films selected. The festival will also be graced by the renowned film personalities such as Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Vikrant Massey, R Madhavan, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Kirti Kulhari, Arjun Kapoor, Bhumi Pednekar, Rakul Preet Singh, Nushrratt Bharuccha, Sanya Malhotra, Ileana D’Cruz, Boman Irani, Pankaj Kapur, Aparshakti Khurana, Manasi Parekh, Pratik Gandhi, Sai Tamhankar, Vishnu Manchu, Prabhudeva, Kajal Aggarwal, Saurabh Shukla and others,” he added and hoped everyone would enjoy the festival.
