40th IFFI to begin in Panaji ,Goa on November 23,2009.

Best Director and Best film award
introduced
200 films from India and abroad to be showcased

40th edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI 2009), promises a wide selection of 200 films both from India and abroad.. IFFI 2009 will be inaugurated on November 23, at the Kala Academy in Panaji, Goa and ten filmy days till 3 rd December, 2009.
"In a departure from previous years, we will have a best director and best film award this year” said Festival Director S M Khan at a press meet in Mumbai on Monday. “the best film award will be jointly shared by both the director and the producer of the film,'' he added. The winner gets the prestigious Golden Peacock award and Rs 40 lakhs (Rs 4 million) as cash prize. The Best Director and the winner of the Special Jury Award will get silver peacock and cash prizes of Rs 15 lakhs (Rs1.5 Million) each.
The Indian Panorama will showcase 47 films – 26 feature and 21 non-feature films selected by the jury. In addition, the National Film Archives of India, Pune will screen five vintage musical hits and three National Film Award winning movies – Do Ankhen Baara Haath (1957), Sagar Sangame (1958) and Apur Sansar (1959). Tributes to Indian film personalities include Neelu Phule, Prakash Mehra, Shakti Samanta, Feroz Khan, Leela Naidu among others. The Films Division, Mumbai will show documentaries on Indian music and musicians covering Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Ustad Bismillah Khan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pandit Jasraj, Naushad, K L Saigal, Begum Akhtar and Mohammad Rafi. Retrospective in the Indian section will be of films from Assam, as the Assemese Film Industry is celebrating the diamond jubilee. The films of Jahnu Barua, Bhabhendranath Saikia, Santwana Bardoloj and Sanjeev Hazarika will be showcased.
Retrospective will also feature films of those artistes who have completed 50 years in the film industry. Two movies each of Kamal Hassan, Asha Parekh and Saumitra Chatterjee will be screened.In the Cinema of the World, about 65 films from 45 countries have been selected by the Preview Committee. The continent focus is on Africa and Latin America, while the country focus is on cinema of Italy, France, Poland, Croatia and Estonia. Films made by Indians abroad on NRI issues will be part of the ‘Film India Worldwide’ section. Retrospectives in the foreign films category will include Gurinder Chadha, UK, Manuel De Oleivera, Portugal and Nonzee Nimibutr, Thailand. In addition, five anti-war films will also be shown. Spoof Cinema, mocking popular cinema is the new entrant in this edition of the festival. Films such as “Malegaon ka Superman’ and ‘Gabbarbhai MBBS’ are part of this package. Among the parallel activities, Shiamak Davar will present a lecture demonstration on ‘Evolution of Dance in Hindi Cinema’ while Kishwar Desai will speak on ‘Hindi Films based on book adaptations.”