5th Asian Film Festival from October 12-19 in Mumbai

Mumbai, Sep 19 (UNI) Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh will inaugurate the fifth Asian Film Festival to be held in Mumbai from October 12-19, at its main venue Ravindra Natya Mandir in Prabhadevi.

Festival director Sudhir Nandgaonkar told UNI, for the first time, the concept of 'Red Carpet' for VIPs will be introduced.

''The name of the VIP stepping on the red carpet will be announced, the cameras will focus on the celebrity while those gathered will clap and welcome the guest who will appear on the CC TV'', he said.

The Asian Film Culture Award will be given to Iranian director Majid Majidi known for his celebrated film 'Children of Heaven'.

The award will be presented to him during the closing ceremony on October 19. His latest film 'Weeping Willow' will be the closing film of the festival.

For the first time, Satyajit Ray Memorial award has been instituted to honour film personalities for promoting film as art.

The first recipient of this award will be Prof Satish Bahadur, who taught film appreciation at the FTII, Pune.

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