41st IFFI rolls out today

41st IFFI rolls out today
Aftab, Gracy to compere inaugural
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, NOV 21
Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee will inaugurate the 41st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) on Monday. Addressing a press conference today evening, Chief Minister Digamber Kamat said that Hindi film director Yash Chopra and Bollywood actor Ajay Devgan will be present as the chief guest and guest of honour, respectively for the inaugural ceremony.
The 10-day festival will see screening of 300 films from 61 countries. “The films will be screened in eleven auditoriums in Panjim and Margao. Reema Sen will be ‘thali’ girl for the inaugural while actor Aftab Shivdasani and actress Gracy Singh will compere the function,” he told reporters.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni who is unwell will however not make it for the event.
From this year onwards, films from across the globe will be competing for the prestigious awards, which is calculated at Rs 90 lakhs (2,00,000 US$).
Festival Director S M Khan said that it was felt that very important films are being produced in America and Europe and hence there was a need to bring it in the competition section.
“The scope for competition section was widened after an experts’ committee led by Kamal Hassan suggested for the same. We have received good response from the European filmmakers,” he stated.
The festival that received 350 films for the competition section, last year has since then increased to 450 this year. The international competition will have 18 films including three Indian films, which will be judged by a five member jury led by Polish filmmaker Jerzy Antczak.
Other jury members include Emmy award winning Canadian filmmaker Sturla Gunnars, Australian legendary actor Mick Molloy and French filmmaker Oliver Pere and South Indian film actress Revathy Menon.
The Indian Panorama will present a cluster of 26 feature and 21 non-feature films from the best and promising film makers from across the country. India’s premier film school, Film and Television Institute of India, celebrates its Golden Jubilee with the screening of  five non-feature films.
Masterstrokes will salute cinematographer V K Murthy and versatile producer D Ramanaidu – the two recent recipients of Indian cinema’s highest honour, Dadasaheb Phalke Award.
Two films, each associated with them are lined up for screening. In the Tributes section, IFFI will pay homage to those who lived a full cinema life by offering screenings in memory of those film personalities who are no more.
“They are Bina Rai, Pamela Rooks, Sujit Kumar, Keshu Ramsay, Debu Deodhar, Pankaj Advani, Nirmal Pandey, Tahir Hussain, Vishnuvardhan and Ravi Baswani,” Khan added.
Centenaries of five unforgettable cinema talents – Ashok Kumar, B R Panthulu, Motilal, Nadia and RajaParanjpe– are also being observed by screening their films.
A new section ‘Academy Interest’ is being introduced from 2010. A special screening of India’s official Oscar entry this year ‘Peepli Live’ is being organised, to enable a unique international platform to position an Indian film in the run-up to the academy awards.
This year onwards, three Indian films from Panorama would be making it to the international competition category.
The 21 non-feature films in the section will showcase the best of the talent from across the country. ‘Achtung Baby’ (Beware), a documentary film in English that narrates the story of how even after six decades after Nazi Germany surrendered, a minority continues to be obsessed with racial purity will be screened.
‘Going the Distance’, a digital film in Nagamese will also be screened, which revolves round the life of a lady living with HIV/AIDS. “This movie is an attempt to portray her life’s journey-physical, emotional and spiritual journey as she moves ahead in life,” an IFFI official said.