The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) today announced a stellar lineup of International Competition, Indian Panorama films and Juries for its 46th edition to be held in Goa from November 20 to 30 2015. The film festival will showcase 187 films from 89 countries in World Cinema section along with 26 Feature and 21 Non-Feature films in Indian Panorama section.
Addressing the curtain raiser press conference, Shri Arun Jaitley, Hon’ble Minister, I&B, Finance & Corporate Affairs said, “The Kingdom of Spain is the focus country of IFFI 2015.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 Man Who Knew Infinity’ written and directed by Matthew Brown would be the opening film of IFFI 2015. Mr. Anil Kapoor will be the Chief Guest at the opening ceremony. The International Competition will have 15 films including two films from Indian Panorama section. The jury for International Competition includes Chairperson Mr. Shekhar Kapur along with Mr. Michael Radford, Ms. Julia Jentsch, Suha Arraf and Mr. Jeon Kyu-Hwan.”
Announcing the Indian Panorama, the Honorable Minister stated that the section will have a confluence of remarkable films from different languages and states. The 13-member Feature Jury was headed by Chairperson, Aribam Syam Sharma while the 7-member Non-Feature jury was led by Chairperson, Rajendra Janglay.
The section Focus on North East Cinema has emerged as a great platform to showcase the best of films and filmmakers from the region to the world. This year, the section will have a Special Retrospective on Aribam Syam Sharma, the eminent filmmaker, actor and music composer from Manipur along with a unique segment featuring next generation filmmakers from North East.
Commencing a special feature this year, the festival in association with the Oscar Academy will organise master classes with eminent Academy members Mark Mangini, Milt Shefter and Humphrey Dixon on varied topics like sound designing, film archive and film editing.
The film festival will also screen some of the outstanding directorial debuts of 2015 in a newly introduced segment- ‘First Cut’. The section would feature emerging filmmakers including Brian Perkins (Film – Golden Kingdom, USA), Michael Klette (Film – Solness, Germany) and Piotr Chrzan (Film – Moskvich-My Love, Poland) among others.
In a special series titled ‘In Conversation’, the Indian filmmakers Shyam Benegal, Vettrimaran, Kaushik Ganguli and Anand L Rai will be present to discuss films and the art of film-making with the audience. Additionally, IFFI 2015 will feature a special section ‘World Cinema Restored Classics’ to highlight the idea of film restoration. The Film festival will also feature a package of classics to put spotlight on National Film Heritage Mission (NFHM).
Concluding the press conference, Shri Arun Jaitley said, “The International Film Festival of India has become a common platform to celebrate the excellence of film-making and appreciate the film cultures of different nations. Today, the festival has grown as one of the biggest film festivals in Asia and with each edition; it is creating new benchmarks of success all over the world. The festival has gained huge popularity amongst the global cinema lovers and the world is eagerly waiting for the IFFI 2015.”
Among other government officials and delegates present at press conference were Shri. Laxmikant Parsekar, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Goa, Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Minister of State, Information & Broadcasting, Shri Sunil Arora, Secretary I&B, Shri. J.S. Mathur, Special Secretary, I&B, Shri Senthil C. Rajan, Director DFF, and Shri Frank Noronha, DG PIB.
Note: I worked with International Film Festival of India 2015 as Content Head- PR and handled all on-ground content and communication work while working closely with Ministry of I&B, organising committee and filmmakers.
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