All set for the 41st International Film Festival of India (IFFI), 2010. The Chief Minister of Goa, Digambar Kamat informed the crowded media persons that Awards Worth 90 lakhs to be presented in different categories and there will be300 films from 61 countries will be screened in 11 theatres. The Festival will be inaugurated by Ms. Mamta Banerjee ,Union Railway Minister and the Chief Guest of the function will be the renowned film Producer and Director Shri Yash Chopra. Famous actor, Shri Ajay Devgan will be the Guest of Honor. The opening ceremony will see Bollywood stars Aftab Shivdasani and Gracy Singh as the masters of ceremonies. An Young Jury Award for excellence in journalism has been instituted this year. The prize carries an amount of Rs. 3 lakhs. Kamat added that a host of cultural programmes, fireworks and food courts will greet and entertain the delegates attending the Festival.
During the Press Conference, the Festival Director, S. M. Khan informed the press that 18 films (15 foreign and 3 Indian) feature films have been short listed for the International Competition Section. The section has films from China, Iran, Israel, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Mexico, New Zealand US and UK. Awards worth 90 lakh rupees (200,000 USD) will be presented which is the highest amount to be awarded in any Festival in the world. He also informed that five awards in total will be given in the International Competition Section. For the first time, two new awards- Best Actor and Best Actress-will be awarded this year. The Best Film would be awarded Golden Peacock and given Prize money of Rs.40 lakh; the Best Director would be awarded Silver Peacock and given Prize money of Rs.15 lakh. The Best Actor and Actress would take home a Silver Peacock and given a Prize money of Rs.10 lakh each. The Special Jury Award winner would be bestowed with a Silver Peacock and given Prize money of Rs.15 lakh. Talking about the Indian Section at the Festival, Shri Khan said Centenaries of five unforgettable cinema talents – Ashok Kumar, B.R. Panthulu, Motilal, Nadia and Raja Paranjpe– are being observed by showing their films. Apart from this, the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of Odiya cinema will be conducted. Another key aspect of the festival will be the commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of the Film & Television Institute of India. Five non feature films curated by the FTII will be screened. Masterstrokes will salute cinematographer V.K.Murthy and versatile producer D. Ramanaidu – the two recent recipients of Indian Cinema’s highest honors, Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Two films, each associated with them are lined up for screening. And in the Tributes, IFFI pays tribute to those who lived a full cinema life by offering screenings in memory of those film personalities who are no more. This includes Bina Rai, Pamela Rooks, Sujit Kumar, Keshu Ramsay, Debu Deodhar, Pankaj Advani, Nirmal Pandey, Tahir Hussain, Vishnuvardhan and Ravi Baswani. He also informed the media that a new section Academy Interest is being introduced from 2010. From this year, 3 Indian films from Panorama would be making it to the International competition category. Another new feature will be the Master Classes being taken by Oscar winner Rasul Pookutty on sound technology, evolution of comedy in cinema by Boman Irani etc. A key highlight of the festival pertains to the foreign section participation during the festival. There will be a Cannes Kaleidoscope 2010, a comprehensive package of films that made into Cannes this year. The films include ‘Film Socialism’ by Jean Lun Godard. There will also be a package of ten Iranian films and four Taiwanese films with high aesthetic content to be represented by respective film makers, cast and crew members. Amongst the retrospectives scheduled for prominent film makers, the list includes Jan Jakub Kolski Retrospective, Jim Jarmusch Restrospective, Michael Cacoyannis Retrospective and Mira Nair Retrospective. The country focus during the festival shall be Mexico, Georgia and Sri Lanka. There will be Sections on Taiwanese New Wave Cinema and Australian Indigenous Fiction Films. IFFI would also pay homage to the Iconic French film maker, Eric Rohmer, who passed away this year. Six of his films would be screened. As a reply to the question by this reporter the Festival Director said that the FIPRESCI jury has not been constituted and there will not be any Critics’ Award this year ,as announced.
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