46th IFFI - ‘Embrace of the Serpent ‘bags Golden Peacock- Curtains down with award presentation in a grand closing ceremony

 Kaushik Ganguly’s ‘Cinemawala’ honoured with the UNESCO-Fellini medal 

-         Lifetime Achievement Award presented to Russian filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov 

The 11 day long  46th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) concluded this evening with a splendid closing rite at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium attended by the Governor of Goa, Ms. Mridula Sinha, Chief Minister of Goa  Shri Laxmikant Parsekar, Union Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and I&B Secretary Shri Sunil Arora. Internationally acclaimed music director A. R. Rahman
was the chief gust on the closing ceremony.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnpvsWtrx5s)

   .

The dance group, which shot to fame after winning reality talent show, India's Got Talent 2 presented a choral-style performance on the musical journey of Indian cinema. Famous Sand Artist, Rahul Arya presented his mesmerizing sand art performance at the ceremony. 

The Award Winners are:

 ‘Embrace of the Serpent’ (Al Abrazo de la Serpiente) bagged theBest Film Award. The film produced by Christina Gallego and directed by Ciro Guerra depicts the first contact, encounter, approach, betrayal and eventually life transcending friendship between Amazonian shaman Karamakate and two scientists who work together over the course of 40 years to search the Amazon for a sacred healing plant.  The film is shot in the Amazonian rain forest in richly detailed black and white. The Best Film Award comprises the Golden Peacock and a citation with a prize money of Rs 40 lakhs (Rs 4 million) to be shared between the Director and the Producer.

Peter Greenaway bagged The Best Director award  for the film ‘Eisenstein in Guanajuato’. Greenway portrays the lead character Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein as an eccentric, self absorbed artiste who travels to a new place and culture and is forced by the experiences he has there to question his assumptions about himself and Stalinist Russia. Peter Greenway is a British film Director, initially trained as a painter, who later took to film making.  The Best Director is presented with a Silver Peacock, a citation and a prize money of Rs 15 lakhs (Rs 1.5 million)

The Best Actor (Male) award  went to Vincent Lindon for his portrayal of a laid off factory worker Thierry Taogourdeau in the film ‘The Measure of a Man’.  The film, a French social drama turns the spotlight on ordinary people who are pushed by circumstances to the corners.

The Best Actor (Female) award was shared by Gunes Sensoy, Doga Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu, Elit Iscan andIlyada Akdogan for portrayal of role of five young orphaned sisters in the Turkish fim ‘Mustang.  The film set in a remote Turkish village depicts the life of five young orphaned sisters and challenges they face growing up as girls in a conservative society.

The Best Actor – Male and Female awards carrying the Silver Peacock, citation and a prize money of Rs 10 lakhs each (Rs 1 million)

The Special Jury Award went to the Spanish film ‘Sealed Cargo’ (Carga Sellada) directed by Julia Vargas.  The Special Jury Award carries a Silver Peacock, citation and a cash prize of Rs 15 lakhs (Rs 1.5 million)

The Serbian film ‘Enclave’ directed by Goran Radovanovic got the special mention award. The main theme of the film is life of Kosovo Serbs in small isolated communities, called enclaves

The International Jury of IFFI 2015 headed by Shekhar Kapur, UK based director, Micheal Radford, Palestinian based Israel director, Ms. Suha Arraf, German Actress, Julia Jentsch and South Korean filmmaker Jeon Kyu-Hwan were the members in the Jury.

Lifetime Achievement Award

The Russian film maker, actor and head of Russian Cinematographers’ Union Nikita Mikhalkov was conferred upon the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 46^th International Film Festival of India. Mikhalkov trained as an actor at the Shchukin School and studied direction under Mikhail Romm.  At Home Among Strangers (1974) was his first feature, while he garnered international recognition with ‘A Slave of Love’ .Greatly popular for his portrayal of the memorable Sergei in ‘Burnt by the Sun’, Mikhalkov has built up a reputation as an actor's director, winning numerous international awards.  IFFI 2015 had a special tribute section of Mikhalkov’s films, screening his masterpieces – ‘Sunstroke’, ‘the Barber of Siberia’ and ‘Burnt by the Sun’.  The Lifetime Achievement Award carries a Silver Peacock, certificate, shawl and a scroll along with a cash prize of Rs 10 lakhs (Rs 1 million)

ICFT – UNESCO Fellini Medal

The ICFT – UNESCO Fellini Medal was awarded to Kaushik Ganguly’s ‘Cinemawala’ that focuses on the sad state of single screen cinema halls in West Bengal.  In collaboration with International Council for Film, Television and Audiovisual Communication (ICFT), Paris, and UNESCO the UNESCO Fellini Award was presented at IFFI for the first time this year. This medal is given to a film that reflects the socio-cultural ideals promoted by UNESCO.


.

Argentinean  crime thriller  ‘El Clan’  was the closing film of the fest . The Clan is a 2015 Argentine crime film directed by Pablo Trapero. It was selected to be screened in the main competition section of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival where director Pablo Trapero won the Silver Lion 

46th IFFI 2015 -all set for a grand closing ceremony

The 11 day long  46th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will conclude this evening with a splendid closing rite at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium.Rajyavardhan Rathore ,Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Mridula Sinha ,Goa Governor, Laxmikant Parsekar ,Goa Chief Minister and, Sunil Arora, Secretary I&B will honour the closing ceremony. Music composer A R Rahman is the Chief Guest of the evening. Actors Lillete Dubey and Kabir Bedi will perform the comparing .Damodar Naik ,Vice Chairman, Entertainment Society of Goa, , R K Srivastava ,Chief Secretary, Government of Goa, Lola Poggi Goujon, Secretary General ICFT, Ameya Abhyankar , CEO, Entertainment Society of Goa, will also be present at the function. The dance group, which shot to fame after winning reality talent show, India's Got Talent 2 will present a choral-style performance on the musical journey of Indian cinema.Famous Sand Artist, Rahul Arya will also present his mesmerising sand art performance at the ceremony. Argentinean  crime thriller  ‘El Clan’  will be the closing film of this fest . The Clan is a 2015 Argentine crime film directed by Pablo Trapero. It was selected to be screened in the main competition section of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival where director Pablo Trapero won the Silver Lion Argentina in the 1980s. Within a typical family home in the neighbour hood of San Isidro, a sinister clan makes its living off kidnapping and murder. Arquímedes, the patriarch, heads and plans the operations. Alejandro, his eldest son, is a star rugby player. He identifies possible candidates for kidnapping; his popularity shields him from suspicion. All the family members are accomplices in this dreadful venture as they live off the large ransoms paid by the families of their victims. Based on the true story of the Puccio family, this film takes place in the final years of the Argentine military dictatorship and incipient return to democracy.

No border can separate a human being from motherland, says Somnath Chakraborty

No border can separate a human being from his/her motherland, said Director of the film ‘Ujantali’ SomChakraborty while interacting  inter acting with media persons at ‘Meet the Director’programme of the  on going 46th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) .  ‘Ujantali’ is a film on a young girl who is compelled to leave her remote village in Bangladesh, along with her father. However, her memories of the days spent there remain strongly etched in her heart. Now she is an old woman and realizes that she may never be able to return to Bangladesh, but once, while returning from her daughter’s house she decides, and with the help of magic wind, to quench her thirst by viewing what is left of her beloved Motherland Bangladesh.   Somnath Chakraboty  is a young Bengali film director whose work has gained critical acclaim.

46th IFFI-“Indian cinema has impacted me a lot”-doyen of Russian Film, Nikita Mikhalkov

 Nikita Mikhalkov, a known director and Academy award winner  from the Russian cinema has said that, “Indian cinema has great impact on his work. Love and tenderness shown in the films of Raj Kapoor had influenced him since his childhood.   He said that, “Indian cinema is an entirely different planet for me!” Addressing media person at 46th International Film Festival of India 2015 at Goa, Mr   Mikhalkov commented “A film becomes an international film when it is truly national and cultural oriented”.Replying a question about the violence in today world, he got emotional and said has advocated love and passion through his work. “The world has died of its own greed, people value money more than emotions, this leads to violence and aggression”. Nikita Mikhalkov is the son of the famous communist poet Sergey Mikhalkov, who wrote the lyrics of the Soviet national anthem and had strong connections to the Communist Party. Nikita Mikhalkov's mother, Natalya Petrovna Konchalovskaya, was also a poet and daughter of famous painter Pyotr Petrovich Konchalovsky and his wife Olga Vasilievna Surikova, and by her the great granddaughter of another great painter Vasily Surikov. And then last, but not least, Nikita Mikhalkov is the brother of Andrey Konchalovskiy, also a distinguished film director who, unlike Nikita, has worked in the USA.Not only did Mikhalkov direct the Academy Award-winning film "Burnt by the Sun" but he is also well-known as a versatile actor, having appeared in over 40 films, including the role of the Russian Tsar Alexander III in his own "The Barber of Siberia" (1998). Mikhalkov has an impressively long list of wins at the most prestigious film festivals, like Cannes, Venice, Moscow or Karlovy Vary.He thanked the Indian Film festival directorate for conferring Lifetime Achievement Award for 2015 and said he feels proud being included in the list of distinguished personalities who have received the award previously.

14TH Mumbai International Film Festival(14th MIFF) from 28th January, 2016

The 14th edition of Mumbai International Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films, (14thMIFF2016), will be held between January 28 to February 03, 2016. The screenings will be held at the Films Division theatres, Russian Culture Centre and Sophia College theatres at Pedder Road, Mumbai. The inauguration and closing functions will be held at the Ravindra Natya Mandir, Prabhadevi at 5.00 pm on 28th January and 03rd February, 2016 respectively. This prestigious biennial event is organized by Films Division of India, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and is supported by the Government of Maharashtra. a record 831 entries have been received for the competition and selection process for the short listing films to international, National, Technical, New Media and Animation competitions has been initiated by the festival directorate. Jury for International and Nationals competition will comprise of celebrated film makers and personalities from India and abroad.

45th IFFI-Maintaining Digital Film Records more Expensive than Celluloid: Milton Shefter

National Film Heritage Mission of India, a Welcome Step in Preserving The Film Legacy: Milton Shefter  

It is sixteen times more expensive to restore and preserve digital records compared to that of celluloid films according to Milton Shefter, an eminent member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. “The two methods of capturing and storing information have both advantages and disadvantages ,but I personally prefer celluloid tapes as keeping and maintaining digital records are laborious and cost intensive. With temperature and humidity regulation, celluloid tapes can be preserved for centuries but same does not hold for digital films,” disclosed Milton Shefter in a media interaction session of the  46th International Film Festival of India. Milton lauded the efforts of the Government in coming out with a project like National Film Heritage Mission and appreciated its commitment to preserve classic films for future generation. Responding to a question, Shefter highlighted the need for innovation in finding a ‘durable medium’ in storing and preserving film records. Regarding the cataloguing of archival records, he said that there are standard practices and systems in place though the process is challenging. Milton shared his knowledge on film preservation and restoration, in the ‘Master class’ Session. He is known for the two reports he co-authored, ‘The Digital Dilemma” which has been the subject of numerous international press reports and discourses on film preservation.He continues to work and lecture worldwide on issues of media asset preservation and the effects of the digital technologies on long term access of created content. He has presented Master classes on media asset preservation digital issues at several Film Festivals, focusing on emerging filmmakers. Milton R. Shefter is the President of Miljoy Entertainment Inc, a Project Management Consultancy specializing in media asset preservation. He worked on major preservation projects with Hollywood Studios including the Paramount Pictures library/archival project to catalogue, inspect, repair and build archives in several locations to house their moving image and recorded sound collection.He received the Society’s (Society Of Motion Picture And Television Engineers) Archival medal for his work as a leader in media preservation. He is an active member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science and Technology Council. He chairs the American Society of Cinematographers annual outstanding Achievement Awards and received that organization’s Outstanding Service Award.

46th IFFI 2015-Training and capacity building can help to produce quality manpower in the field of Film archiving, preservation and restoration: NFAI Director

Speaking on the on going multimedia exhibition at 46th Inter National Film Festival of India, 2015 ParkashMadgum, Director National Films Archive of India (NFAI,ShivendraDungarpur, the founder Director of Film Heritage Foundation and, C SenthilRajan, Director,Directorate of Film Festival said that Film Archiving is   a very challenging task They were addressing a press conference at the media centre to elaborate more on the on going multimedia exhibition at 46th IFFI, 2015. This exhibition was inaugurated by the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on the  other day.The aim is to preserve every work though preservation exercise is being taken up in phased manner, prioritising films on various criteria.  Underlining the importance of ‘celluloid’ films, the Director,NFAI recalled the remarks of the eminent film maker AdoorGopalakrishnan, that the images on celluloid films are visible against light without any gadget. Training and Capacity building programmes in the field of Preservation and Film Archiving in co-ordination with International Agencies is a very important aspect of the NFHM and can help to produce quality manpower in this field.ShriShivendra Dungarpur said the National Film Heritage Mission (NFHM) is a prestigious project of the Government of India, for acquisition and preservation of filmic heritage of the country.The infrastructure of preservation is most important and needs to be created, he added. He also said that workshops conducted by NFAI provide an opportunity to learn preservation and restoration of films enhancing chances of one’s employability as film preservers.

46th IFFI-Country Focus ,Kingdom of Spain

"The Kingdom of Spain is the focus country of IFFI 2015. This will provide an opportunity to watch Spanish films of eminent masters from Spain.. The films of master Spanish filmmakers Carlos Saura and Pedro Almadovar along with contemporary filmmakers like Alejandro Amenabar will be screened at the festival. The section will also feature Spanish actress Leticia Dolera's directorial debut 'Requirements to Be a Normal Person'," The other films are  Bad Education(Pedro Almodovar),Goya in Bordeaux (Carlos Saura)Isla Bonita (Fernando Colombo),The Sea Inside(Alejandro Amenabar),Tango (Carlos Saura),Thesis(Alejandro Amenabar),Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown(Pedro Almodovar)

46th IFFI-Indian Panorama inaugurated by Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting inaugurated the Indian Panorama section of the 46^th IFFI at the Inox theatre complex. The Minister  along with Sunil Arora, Secretary I&B also felicitated the jury members of Feature and Non Feature Film category. They also felicitated the Directors and other cast & crew of the opening films in the Feature and Non-Feature category at the Indian Panorama section at IFFI-2015. Sanskrit film "Priyamanasam"  directed by Vinod  Mankara is the opening film in the feature section, while film "Goonga Pehalwan", based on the life and struggles of Virender Singh, one of India's most accomplished deaf athletes kick-started the non-feature category. “Films are a very important and powerful medium in spreading message across the world. It promotes friendship. Films made in any part of the world are enjoyed across the globe irrespective of language,"  Rathore saidwhile inaugurating the section..Indian Panorama is Government’s initiative to select films of cinematic, thematic and aesthetic excellence and to showcase to the world. This year out of record number of entries of 238 feature films and 146 non-feature films, 26 feature films and 21 non-feature films had been selected by the Indian Panorama Jury. The selection in the feature film category included 7 Bengali, 5 Hindi, 4 Malyalam, 4 Marathi and 1 each in Kannada, Konkani, Sanskrit, Tamil and Wancho (Arunachal Pradesh) languages. 

46th IFFI - Opened with Grace and Glitz

IFFI 2015 Opens in a  glitz mood and screening of the film ‘The Man Who Knew Infinity’ -

Music composer Ilaiyaraaja Receives Centenary Award 

 

The 46th edition of the International Film Festival of India opened with the lighting of the traditional lamp by Governor of Goa, Mridula Sinha, the Union Minister Information and Broadcasting,  Finance and Corporate Affairs, Arun Jaitley, Minister of Defence, Manohar Parrikar, Chief Minister of Goa, Laxmikant Parsekar, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Secretary Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Sunil Arora ,  Actor Anil Kapoor as Chief Guest and the Guest of Honour illustrious music composer Ilaiyaraaja. The International Jury Chairman Shekhar Kapur and other members of the Jury Jeon Kyu-hwan, Julia Jentsch, Michael Radford and Suha Arraf were also present. The other Celebrities present on the occasion included Sonakshi Sinha, Kabir Khan, Dev Patel, Devika Bhise and Sushant Singh among others.

 The opening performance – the choreographed welcome song ‘IFFI mein aapka welcome…swagatam’ and live dance performances by Anil Kapoor attracted the audience. 

 During his inaugural address Jaitley said that the International Film Festivals give filmmakers a chance to interact with fellow filmmakers and provide opportunities to showcase the best domestic and international talents. He said that there could not be a better opportunity than a Film Festival to celebrate the excellence of cinema. 

 The Union Minister  Arun Jaitley jointly with Chief Guest Anil Kapoor presented the Centenary Award to the great music composer Ilaiyaraaja. Indian Centenary Personality of the Year award consists of a trophy, a cash component of Rs. 10 lakh and a citation.Regarded as one of the finest music composers in India, Ilaiyaraaja is also an instrumentalist, conductor, singer, and songwriter. 

 In his welcome address, the Chief Minister of Goa,Laxmikant Parsekar said that film is not only a source of entertainment but also art and a powerful medium of education. Earlier welcoming the guests and participants, Sunil Arora, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting briefed the audience about the details of the Festival. A book ‘Legends of Indian Silver Screen” brought out by Publication Division of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting was also released by the Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley.The famous Art Director and production designer Sabu Cyril is the designer for all sets and logo of IFFI 2015.