PANJIM: Veteran Hindi film director Ramesh Sippy will inaugurate the 47th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) on Sunday, while S S Rajamouli will do the honours at the closing ceremony.
IFFI officials said SP Balasubrahmanyam will be awarded the Centenary Award for Indian film Personality of the Year, while Korean filmmaker Im Kwon-taek will get the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Apart from the duration of the festival being cut down to nine days as opposed to the earlier 11 days, there are a number of new elements that cine lovers can look forward to. Among them is ‘IFFI Paathshaala’, an intensive 8-day workshop being held in collaboration with the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).
There will also be a ‘Film Village’ where States will promote cinema tourism. This will feature either places where famous movies have been shot and States want to encourage tourists to go there, or States offering great locations or incentives for cinema producers.
One Fest Goa – a festival for short film and documentary films will be held by The One School Goa and participants will also get to be part of what’s happening at IFFI.
In collaboration with Maharashtra, a selection of 10 critically acclaimed Marathi films, mixed with a selection of Konkani films will be shown in villages in Goa. This will feature 4K projection with 5.1 Dolby sound.
In collaboration with UNESCO and the Social Welfare Department there will be audio enhanced movies for the visually impaired, so as to make the festival more inclusive.
As in the past, the area between Kala Academy and Campal creek, called the ‘Goan High Street’ will feature various means of public engagement like street food, flea market, acts by local talent, street art, installations, selfie points, etc. There will also be movie screening at Miramar beach.
