38th International Film Festival begins in Goa

Panaji, Nov 23: The 38th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will start in Goa from today. Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan will be the Chief Guest at the inaugural session of the festival.

Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs, P R Dasmunsi and Goa Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat besides several important film personalities will attend the inaugural ceremony. The inaugural lamp will be lit with the assistance of Priyamani, the rising star of southern cinema.

The Palme D' OR winner of Cannes 2007- titled '4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days' (Romania) will be the opening film at the festival. The director of the film, Cristian Mungiun and the main actress, Anamaria Marinca will also be present. Besides, there will be other foreign delegates representing various international film festivals from Netherlands, China, Poland and Mexico. A major delegation from Poland and China will also be present.

Portugal-Spain film 'Fados' directed by Carlos Saura will be the closing film for the festival. The Cinema of the World Section will feature a choice of year's best international cinema. This section will have 76 films from 42 countries.

A specialized competition for feature films by Asian, African and Latin American directors will also be organised. Under this section, fourteen films from 13 countries have been selected for the competition. Competition jury is headed by the eminent award winning film maker from Hungary Marta Mazaros, who has directed more than 60 films and has won awards in Cannes, Berlin, Venice and San Sebastian International Film Festivals.

Other members of the jury are Meltem Cumbul, a young leading actress from Turkey; Shaji N Karun, cinematographer, film director and script writer from Kerala; a noted Argentinean film director Pablo Cesar, who has won awards in the Montreal International Film Festival and National awards in Argentina and Robert Sarkies, a young film maker from New Zealand.

Hungary will be in focus under the section 'Country Focus'. Seven films 'Black Brush' (director Roland Vranik), 'Dealer' (director Benedek Fliegauf), 'Eastern Sugar' (director Ferenc Torok), 'Hukkle' (director Gyorgy Palfi), 'Temptations' (director Zoltan Kamondi), 'The Porcelain Doll' (director Peter Gardos) and 'Vagabond' (director Gyorgy Szomjas).

In 'Film India Worldwide' category, three films 'AIDS Jaago' (Mira Nair), 'Amal' (Richie Mehta) and 'The Pool' (Chris Smith). Retrospective of Ingmar Bergman will feature seven of his highly acclaimed films - 'Autumn Sonata', 'Fanny and Alexander', 'The Seventh Seal', 'The Virgin Spring', 'Through a Glass Darkly', 'Shame', and 'Wild Strawberries'.

Indian Panorama at IFFI - 2007 will present a bouquet of 36 films, 21 features and 15 non-feature films. The package is a mixed bag with stalwarts like Budhadeb Dasgupta and Adoor Gopalakrishnan presenting two films each. The section will have Ami Iyasin Aar Amaar Madhubala (The Voueurs- Feature) and Naushad Ali- the Melody continues (Non Feature) by Budhadeb Dasgupta and Naalu Penunungal (Four Women- Feature) and The Dance of the Enchantress (Non Feature) by Adoor Gopalakrishnan.

The debut directors like Sameer Hanchante, Samir Chanda, and Bhavna Talwar will present their films Gafla (Scam), Ek Nadir Galpo (Tale of a river), and Dharm respectively. A special section celebrating 60 years of India's independence, India @ 60, will showcase seven patriotic films including three feature and four documentaries.

IFFI will also feature a Film Bazaar for films from India as well as large number of foreign countries, seminars, discussions and press conferences, IFFI Goa film treasures (a section dedicated to international film heritage) and special festival publications on the films being screened.

Theatre facilities for IFFI - 2007 have been significantly upgraded. Nine theatres with a total seating capacity of 3,026 will be part of the festival complex as compared to five theatres with a total seating capacity of 2,200 last year.

The theatres are, Inox Multiplex (4 screens), Kala Academy (2 screens), Ashok&Samrat (2 screens). Two new screens have been added in Maquinez Palace, which have the capacity to be looped.

Over 3500 delegates have registered. Around 350 media persons have registered of which 80 are from Goa.

ANI
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