49th International Film Festival of India 2018-IFFI- Silver Prize will be added as a part of celebrating the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi in the the ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Award

Marking the 125^th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi the ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Award is being given to a film that best reflects Mahatma Gandhi's ideals of peace, tolerance and non-violence. This is in collaboration with the International Film Festival of India. In the 49^th edition of the fest, 12 films are vying for the award which will be announced at the closing ceremony of the Festival on 28^th November. Out of the 12 films, two are Indian and the rest are foreign. The Indian films competing for the prestigious ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Medal are ‘Walking With the Wind’ and ‘Baaram’.The foreign films in the fray are Border, Capernaum, Dovlatov, Laugh or Die, Los Silencious, Rain of Homs, The Interpreter, The Mercy of the Jungle, The Rib and The Silent Revolution.

ICFT is involved in major film festivals all over the world but Goa is the masterpiece of all Film Festivals, said Georges Dupont, DG, International Council for Film Television and Audiovisual Communication (ICFT) and jury member of the ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Medal at IFFI. ICFT is trying hard to get into festivals like Cannes in order to get space for young film-makers he added. Dupont was addressing the media along with Eric Falt, Director of UNESCO and Regional Representative for India and neighbouring countries. Elaborating on the process of selection, Dupont said that criteria for selecting films to the ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Medal Section are difficult because they have to meet UNESCO's themes of peace,  unity and international co-operation,  and movies come from different origins and cultures. “Film critics of international repute are involved in the selection process. Movies are shortlisted in India and taken to Paris for the jury to watch. Then they are distributed to all the members via the internet. The members do their homework as per their convenience and discuss their notes to arrive at a decision. The criteria for selection of movies for the Medal this year have been broadened. This year Silver Prize will be given as we are celebrating the 150^th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi”, he said.