Curtain will rise for the 45th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) at Goa tomorrow

-178 Films from 79 countries during eleven day festival
--26 feature and 15 non-feature films in Indian Panorama

The 45^th edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will take off at Panaji ,Goa with a gala show of music and dance from 20th to 30th November, 2014. The 11-day film fiesta will project the excellence  of the film art and  film cultures of 79 countries.  The 2014 edition of the Festival is 11^th in a row at Panaji,Goa. Speaking to the media at the press conference Director Festival Shankar Mohan informed the media that Amitabh Bachchan  will be the Chief Guest at the opening ceremony while,JeonSoo-il (South Korea),Mohsen Makhmalbaf(Iran)and Polish film maker KrzysztofZanussi would be the Guests of Honour. Actor AnupamKher and RaveenaTandon will compere the programme.The other celebrities to be present include Jaya Bhduri Bachan ,ShekharKapur,SatishKaushik, and RoopaGanguli.

Rajnikant would be bestowed with Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year. The award was instituted last year to commemorate 100 years of Indian Cinema. Chinese Film maker Wong KarWai would receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. “The President” directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Iran) will be the opening film while the festival will close with “The Grandmaster” by Wong KarWai (China).

China is the focus country for the festival. IFFI 2014 would screen 178 films from 79 countries across different categories which include World Cinema (61 films), Master-strokes (11 films), Festival Kaleidoscope (20 films), Soul of Asia (7 films), Documentaries (6 films), Animated Films (6 films). Besides, Indian Panorama section would include 26 Feature and 15 Non-Feature Films. North-East being the focus region of the festival, IFFI 2014 would be showcasing 7 films from North Eastern part of India. Regional cinema would also be an integral part of the festival. Retrospective sections on Gulzar and JahnuBaruah, Special Homage films on Richard Attenborough, Robin Williams, ZohraSehgal, SuchitraSen, and special tribute to Farooq Sheikh would be other attractions this year. A special section of films that focus on dance, personality based retrospectives, and Masterclasses/workshopswould also form a part of IFFI 2014. 

The new attraction is open air Screening of Indian filmsat Campal Football Ground for the general public free of cost on first come first basis. The screening will open with film “Gandhi” on 21^st November,2014 at 7.30 P.M and will show an Indian film every day at the same time and venue till 27^th November,2014.Besides the world premieres, IFFI 2014 offers a repertoire of activities, such as The Film Bazar, 3D Films, Dinners, Master classes, Stalls and Open-Air Screenings for the delegates.

45th IFFI -Lifetime Achievement award to Wong Kar Wai

Wong Kar Wai , Celebrated Hong Kong director will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award at the 45^th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), to be held in Goa from November 20-30. Wong Kar-wai (born 17 July 1956) is   ‘a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylised, emotionally resonant work, including Ah fei zing zyun (1990), Dung che sai duk (1994), Chung Hing sam lam (1994), Do lok tin si (1995), Chun gwong cha sit (1997), 2046 (2004) and My Blueberry Nights (2007), Yi dai zong shi (2013). His film Fa yeung nin wa (2000), starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, garnered widespread critical acclaim. Wong's films frequently feature protagonists who yearn for romance in the midst of a knowingly brief life and scenes that can often be described as sketchy, digressive, exhilarating, and containing vivid imagery. Wong was the first Chinese director to win the Best Director Award of Cannes Film Festival (for his work Chun gwong cha sit in 1997). Wong was the President of the Jury at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, which makes him the only Chinese person to preside over the jury at the Cannes Film Festival. He was also the President of the Jury at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2013. In 2006, Wong accepted the National Order of the Legion of Honour: Knight (Highest Degree) from the French Government. In 2013, Wong accepted Order of Arts and Letters: Commander (Highest Degree) by the French Minister of Culture’.

45th International Film Festival of India 2014 (IFFI)- Paresh Mokashi's 'Elizabeth Ekadashi' would be the Opening Film of the Indian Panorama

Paresh Mokashi's upcoming film 'Elizabeth Ekadashi' is chosen as the Opening Film of the Indian Panorama section of the 45th edition of the International Film Festival of India 2014 (IFFI). 'Harishchandrachi Factory' ,Paresh Mokashi’s  directorial debut film  released in 2009, was selected as India's official entry to Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film Category.   It also won many a awards including 56th National Film Awards: National Film Award for Best Feature Film in              Marathi ,2008 – John Abraham National Awards in the fourth edition of SIGNS, 2009 – Ahmedabad International Film Festival: Best Feature Film, 2009 – 18th Aravindan Puraskaram: Best Debutant Director , 2009 – Balasaheb Sarpotdar Award: Best Feature Film, 2009 – Gollapudi Srinivas Award: Best Debutant Director,2009 – 14th International Film Festival of Kerala: Hassan Kutty Award for Best Debut Indian Film,2009 – 46th Maharashtra State Film Awards(Best Feature Film,Best Director,Best Art Direction: Nitin Chandrakant Desai,2009 – India's Official entry: Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film,2009 – 1st International Film Festival Kolhapur: Public Choice Award,2009 – Marathi International Film and Theatre Awards: Best Screenplay,2009 – Pune International Film Festival: Best Director (Marathi Section) 2009 – V Shantaram Award: Best Costume: Mridul Patwardhan, Mahesh Sherla, Geeta Godbole, and 2010 – Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles: Audience Choice Awards . 'Elizabeth Ekadashi' is a story about a kid and his group of friends who stay in Pandharpur. The director promises that the film will be an entertaining watch for the young and the old alike.

45th IFFI -The President’ directed by Mohsin Makhmalbaf is the opening film

The 45th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), organized by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting ,Govt of India is all set to open on November 20 with the screening of the Iranian film ‘The President’ directed by Mohsin Makhmalbaf. The story concerns an ageing dictator in an unnamed country, known only as the President, played by Georgian actor Misha Gomiashvilli. “When his exhausted regime’s sadism, cynicism and brutality become too much to bear, there is a coup. His grotesquely spoilt wife and daughters flee the country but the President is left behind with his adored grandson (Dachi Orvelashvilli), whose parents have been killed in the revolution. The President has always had a mawkish fondness for this boy - a projection of his own infantilised status and pampered privilege. They steal ragged clothes and a guitar and the old man and child have to disguise themselves as a travelling street musician and his dancing monkey-boy, and live among the people they oppressed; the bounty on their heads rises inexorably and all the time they fear discovery and violent death at the hands of a newly disloyal military which the President (clearly a former army officer) indoctrinated in savagery” .The film has already been presented at the Venice Film Festival.

Delegate registration for the 19th IFFK-International Film Festival of Kerala 2014 begun

Delegate registration for the 19th edition of International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) organised by Kerala State Chalachitra Academy on behalf of the Department of Culture,Govt of Kerala  begun on Wednesday 5th November.Online registration can be done till November 14th on the website www.iffk.in After registration the delegates will get an acknowledgement mail on receipt of which the payments can be made. Delegate fee of Rs 500/- can be paid online, alternatively the delegate fee can be paid through the branches of State Bank of Travancore (SBT). The bank charges are Rs 25/-.The delegate pass can be collected at the Tagore theatre on presentation of the receipt of payment from 8th to the 13th of December.

19th IFFK 2014(19th International Film Festival of Kerala )-seven films selected for Indian Cinema Now Section .

The seven films selected in the Indian Cinema Now section   of  the19th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK ) include two Bengali, three Hindi, one Marathi and Tamil each.

1)Shrihari Sathe’s Ek Hazarachi Note (Thousand Rupee Note) ,Marathi film .

2)Amit Kumar Raj’s film Dagh Ujala (Blemished Light), Hindi.

3)M. Adeyapartha Rajan’s film Myth of Kleopatra ,Hindi.

4)Ananth Narayan Mahadevan’s Gouri Hari Dastan (The Freedom File), Hindi.

5)Arun Kumar S .U’s Pannaiyarum Padminiyum in Tamil .

6)Manoj Michigan’s 89 in Bengali .

7)Sekhar Das’s Nayanchampar Din Ratri (The Tale of Nayanchampa) in Bengali .