Bonanza of international films at IFFI

Bangalore, Nov 2 (UNI) The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) today began its bull run for showcasing acclaimed international films with the formal announcement of the 11-day mega event to be held in Goa from November 23.

Making an announcement about the film festival, Goa Art and Culture Minister Digambar Vasant Kamat said IFFI 2006 would offer the best of world cinema by screening films from over 40 countries under the 'Cinema of the World' section.

Veteran Bollywood actor Shashi Kapoor would inaugurate the film festival with the theme - The Whole World is One Family - signifying the spirit of IFFI as being the confluence of best of cinema from India and across the world.

Mr Kamat said the season would open with the Penelope Cruz starrer comedy 'Volver'and would sign off with Brad Pitt's 'Babel' and would also feature a special retrospective of Prithviraj Kapoor's films and a special screening of Richard Attenborough's 'Gandhi'.

In a nutshell, the festival would be packed with world premieres, film bazaars, children's workshops, street animation and music concerts, he explained.

The Minister released a list of films to be screened under the category of Indian Panorama, which included Madhur Bhandarkar's 'Corporate' and Girish Kasaravalli's Kannada film 'Nayi Neralu.' Up for grabs at IFFI this year would be the Golden Peacock (Rs ten lakh) award for the best film and Silver Peacock (Rs five lakh) for the Most Promising Director. A Special Jury award awaited a Director for his individual artistic contribution.

The Entertainment Society of Goa, engaged in the conduct of the festival, also launched an official website for the festival this year besides, the launch of an exclusive IFFI TV channel to screen activities related to the festival.

UNI SR GD PDM BS1937