48th International Film Festival of India, IFFI begins at Goa’s capital Panaji . During the nine-day extravaganza, around 200 films from over 80 countries will be screened. Our correspondent reports that Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan will inaugurate the festival. Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani will be present at the inaugural function to be held at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium in Bambolim.
Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan will be honoured with Personality of The Year award at the festival. Canada is the focus country this year and will be presenting a package of its 8 best recent films. Acclaimed Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan will be honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the film festival.
‘Beyond the clouds’ by legendary Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi will be the opening film, while the Indo-Argentine film Thinking of Him by Pablo César will be the closing movie. The Oscar-nominated director Majid Majidi will be present for the screening of his latest directorial venture Beyond the Clouds which was entirely made in India.
26 feature films and 16 non-feature films belonging to different languages, regions and cultures will be screened in the Indian Panorama Section of the festival. Vinod Kapri directed Hindi film Pihu will be the opening movie in the feature film category, while Pushkar Puran by Kamal Swaroop will open the non-feature film category of the Indian Panorama.
IFFI will also screen two movies- Hindi Medium and Secret Superstar for the visually impaired persons with special audio described technology. Seven award-winning films from BRICS countries will also be screened at the festival. To ensure greater participation of the local Goan audience, the IFFI will have a Bioscope Village where non-delegates can watch the movies.