IFFI to kick start with Romanian film ‘4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days’

Nov 14: The most coveted film festival of India IFFI (International Film Festival of India) is ready to unwrap the gifts from the world of entertainment.

The IFFI begins from November 23 in Goa and will get the show on the road with the screening of a Romanian film 4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 zile (4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days ).

The inaugural film has won ‘Plame d’Or’ Award at Cannes Film festival this year, which is set in Communist Romania when abortion was illegal, a story of two students in which one try to arrange an illegal abortion for the other. Written and Directed by Cristian Mungiu, the starcast include Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu and Vlad Ivanov.

The programmes of the festival has five broad categories including competition mainly of feature films by Directors from Asia, Africa and Latin America, Cinema of world, Retrospectives, Tributes Focus, Indian Panorama, Mainstream Indian Cinema, Film Bazaar.

The prizes include a Golden Peacock and a cash prize of Rs 10 Lakh for best film, Silver peacock with a cash prize of 5 Lakh for the most promising director and a Special jury award called Silver Peacock with cash prize of 5 Lakh to be awarded to film for its artistic contribution.

There is a report that Cinema of the world section will show case Mira Nair’s AIDS Jaago, Richie Mehta’s Amal and Christopher Smith’s The Pool.

In its retrospective section focus will be on Swedish playwright and director Ingmar Bergman whose classics like Autumn Sonata, Fanny and Alexander, The Seventh Seal, The Virgin Spring, Through a Glass Darkly, Shame and WildStrawberries are chosen for screening.

In Indian retrospective the spotlight will be on Bengali film maker Tapan Sinha’s Kabuliwallah, Sagina Mahato, Adalat, O Ekti Meye and Aadmi Aur Aurat and Bollywood film producer Vijay Anand’s classics like Guide, Tere Ghar Ke Samne, Jewel Thief and Nau Do Gyarah will be showcased.

Manipuri film director Aribam Syam Sharma, India’s leading cinematographer K K Mahajan, music director O P Nayyar and actress Vanamal Devi will be given tribute in the same section.

The Film Bazaar is designed to assist the progress of Indian film industries. It is conducted by the National Films Development Corporation (NFDC), the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Confederation of the Indian Industries (CII).

Indian Panorama section will showcase 21 feature films and 15 non-feature films. Shyamaprasad’s Malayalam film Ore Kadal will open the feature film section of Indian Panorama, while the non-feature segment will start with screening of Bengali film Bagher Bacha, directed by Bishnu Dev Halder. The feature films to be screened in the feature film section include Naalu Pennungal in Malayalam by Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Dharm (Hindi) by Bhavna Talwar, Sanjib Sabhapandit’s Jaatingaa Ityaadi in Assamese and Gajendra Ahire’s Mai Baap in Marathi.

The English film Hope Dies Last In War by Supriyo Sen, Ngaihak LambidaHaobam by Manipuri filmmaker Paban Kumar, and Ashok Rane’s Hindi film Masti Bhara Hai Sama based on the life and times of the music director, Dattaram are part of the non-feature film bouquet at the Indian Panorama section.

Lenin Rajendran’s Ratri Mazha in Malayalam and Samir Chanda’s Ek Nadir Galpo in Bengali would represent India at the Asian African and Latin American Competition of the IFFI.

The curtain will be down on December 3 with director Carlos Saura’s Spanish-Portuguese film Fados.