Film fest opens with spectacular ceremony

Panaji, Nov 23: Veteran Actor Shashi Kapoor declared open the 37th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) this evening, heralding an eleven-day carnival of high profile glamour, entertainment and internationally applauded films in the picturesque sea-shore environs of the tiny coastal state of Goa.

Described as the Cannes of India, IFFI was inaugurated in the presence of a galaxy of stars from the tinsel world besides Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi and Goa Chief Minister Pratapsinh Rane.

The theme for IFFI 2006 is ''the Whole World is One family''.

The two-and-a-half-hour opening ceremony began with actress Vidya Balan helping the dignitaries light the traditional lamp.

Actors Anil Kapor and Prosenjit Chatteree were guests of honour on the occasion.

The official part of the ceremony was followed by a one-and-a-half-hour long cultural extravaganza featuring performances by a host of movie stars including Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Bipasha Basu, Prabhu Deva, Bappi Lahiri, Manoj Tiwari, Sachin and Supriya, Isha Kopekar, Ritesh Deshmukh and Harbhajan Mann.

The function was held at an open ground near the Kala Academy, the Bandodkar Footbal Ground at Campal, one of the two venues for the festival since 2004.

Earlier in the day, there was a dazzling parade which proceeded from Mandovi Bridge, sashayed along the streets of Panaji, pass the Kala Academy Stand to clminate at Campal.

The parade showcased the diverse hues of world cinema with ortrayals of popular Hollywood and Bollywood movies. It was followed by a spectacular air show by the Indian Navy.

This year's IFFI, India's most prestigious film festival boasts of some of the finest movies made in the past year.

The season opened with the Penelope Cruz starrer comedy Volver, that bagged the 'Best Screenplay' and 'Best Actress' awards at the Festival de Cannes, 2006 and will sign off with Brad Pitt's Babel, winner of the 'Best Director' at Cannes again, whose storyline traverses America to Japan.

Interspersed between these two will be critically acclaimed international films from Asia, Africa and Latin America competing for the Golden Peacock' while 40 countries will showcase the cinematic creativity in the 'Cinema of The World' section.

IFFI Goa, 2006 is not just about remarkable films, it is about 240 hours of sheer entertainment and fun.

The festival schedule this year is packed with world premieres, film bazaars, children's workshops, street animation and music concerts including those by Sonu Nigam and Boney M.

It will have open-air beach screenings of animated, cult and revolutionary movies.

The festival will provide film artistes, directors, producers, critics and film lovers a one-stop shop to appreciate and discuss the finer nuances of quality filmmaking, view internationally acclaimed movies and create platforms for showcasing new talents.

Up for grabs at IFFI this year will be the Golden Peacock (Rs 10,00,000) award for the Best Film and the Silver Peacock (Rs 5,00,000) for the Most Promising Director.

A Special Jury Award awaits a director for his individual artistic contribution.

The race for the Peacock will be a hard-fought battle and the eminent international jury comprises Mr Rolf De Heer (Chairman), an Award winning director from Australia, Mr Vincent Maraval, Producer, Co-Founder of Wild Bunch, France, Mr Olivier Assayas, award winning director from France and Mr Jahnu Barua, award winning Director from Assam, India.

The festival presents the Indian Film Fraternity with tremendous opportunities for global recognition.

Along with retrospectives of Rolf de Heer, Javier Bardem, G Aravindan, IFFI Goa 2006 will pay homage to Indian icons like S D Burman, Prithviraj Kapoor, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Satyajit Ray and others who have contributed tremendously to the growth of Indian cinema.

The Festival will also present a treat of 10 highest grossing Indian movies, thus providing them quality international exposure.

'Missed Call' by Mridul Toolsidas and Vinay Subramanian will open the Indian panorama section, which includes five Malayalam films and three Tamil films.

The festival will pay tribute to eleven Indian film personalities, including actress Nadira and music director Naushad Ali, who died last year.

The mainstream Indian cinema section featuring 12 blockbusters in several Indian languages will be inaugurated by actress Sridevi on November 25, with 'Rang de Basanti' being the inaugural film.

Bollywood film 'Corporate' by Madhur Bhandarkar, Kannada film maker Girish Kasaravalli's 'Nayi Neralu'and Rituparno Ghosh's Bengali film 'Dosar' are among the 20 feature films in the Indian Panorama at the Film Festival.

The eleven-day event will screen a total of around 200 films from 40 countries including 40 Indian films -- 20 feature and 20 non-feature -- in the panorama section.

Tamil Film 'Srigaram' by Sharada Ramanathan and 'Sonam' by upcoming film maker Ahsan Muzid in Arunachali dialect Monpa will represent India in the Asian, African and Latin American Competition.

The opening film of the non-feature section would be 'And the World Remained Silent' directed by Ashok Pandit.

The Panorama section also includes Assamese director Manju Borah's historical film 'Joymoti' and Pankuj Parashar's Hindi film 'Banaras:A Mystic Love Story'.

The Malayalam films in the Panorama are 'Thanmatra'by Jessi, Eakantham' by Madhu Kaithapuram, 'Saira' by Biju, 'Nottam' by Sashi Paravoor and'Drishtantham' by M P Sukumaran Nair.

There are three Marathi films -- 'Bayo' by Gajendra Ahire, 'Maati Maay' by Chitra Palekar and 'Badha' by Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar -- in the 20-film panorama package.

Tamil also has three entries -- Sringaram' ,'Aadumkoothu' by T V Chandran and 'Dhavamai Dhavamirunthu' by Cheran.

K Sathyanarayan's 'Hope' is the only Telugu entry.

Besides 'Dosar', Bengali has one more entry 'Songshoy', directed by Saibal Mitra.

Some of the non-feature films which have been included in the Indian panorama are 'Between Darkness and Light'(English) by Ananya Biswas, 'Chabhiwali Pocket watch (Hindi/Urdu) by Vibhu Puri, 'Hans Akela' by Jabbar Patel, Kati Patang( Music only) by Arun Gingade and Andhium (Malyalam) by Jacob Verghese.

Based on its world reputation as a tourist destination, with its unique flavour of European lifestyle co-existing with multi-cultural ethnic sensibilities, Goa is now the permanent venue for the Film Festival Since 1952, India has hosted 36 International Film Festivals, both competitive and non-competitive These festivals became annual events from 1975 onwards The Festival is being organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India in collaboration with the State Government of Goa and the Indian Film Industry The Festival is recognised by the International Federation of Film Producers' Associations (FIAPF).

UNI