The 50th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) begins today in Goa. As India’s most prestigious and the first international film fest to be held in Asia celebrates its golden jubilee, around 200 movies from 76 countries will be screened. The week-long festival provides a platform for filmmakers from all over the world to showcase their work.
The festival is jointly hosted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Directorate of Film Festivals and the Government of Goa. Veteran actors Amitabh Bachchan and Rajinikanth will inaugurate the fest. The star-studdded inaugral event will be hosted by Karan Johar.
The Evergreen Actor @SrBachchan fondly known as the 'Shahenshah' of Indian Cinema has reached Goa and will be next seen on the Grand Red Carpet of #IFFI2019 very soon.
— IFFI 2019 (@IFFIGoa) November 20, 2019
Stay tuned to #IFFI50 to catch the live updates from the Inaugural Ceremony, starting shortly. pic.twitter.com/hwQXU4edQw
Here's all you need to know about the 50th edition of IFFI that will go on till November 28.
Where is IFFI happening?
The current edition of IFFI is being held at Goa and which has been the festival’s permanent venue since 2004.
Which films will open and close IFFI 2019?
The Golden Jubilee edition of IIFI will be declared open with the Asian premiere of the film Despite the Fog, an Italian refugee drama which highlights the struggle that refugee minors face in the streets of Europe. The film is directed by Serbian filmmaker Goran Paskaljevic. A short film on Goa’s former chief minister Manohar Parrikar (who is credited for bringing IFFI to Goa in 2004 and making it the festival’s permanent venue) will also be shown at the opening ceremony.
The film Marghe and Her Mother will close the festival. Directed by the Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf. the film deals with the life of a six-year-old.
Who will speak at the Masterclass and In-conversation sessions?
Farah Khan, Ilaiyaraaja, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Madhur Bhandarkar, Isabelle Huppert and Sabu Cyril will hold Masterclass sessions. Taapsee Pannu, Anil Kapoor and Anees Bazmee will be speaking at in-conversation sessions.
Who will be honoured at IFFI 2019?
Tamil superstar Rajinikanth who has won millions of hearts with his spell-binding performances on screen, will be honoured with the ‘Icon of Golden Jubilee Award'. IFFI Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to French actor Isabelle Huppert. The Special Retrospective Film Section will pay tribute to the acclaimed British filmmaker Ken Loach
Amitabh Bachchan’s most famous films including Sholay, Deewar, Black, Piku and Badla will be screened to commemorate his “outstanding contribution to cinema”. This special section titled ‘Retrospective of Amitabh Bachchan’ will open with the screening of his film Paa.
Film Sections and Awards
Special Goan Film Section: Seven local Konkani films will be shown, which includes movies like Digant, Amori, K Sera Sera, The Rainy Day and others. This section is titled ‘The Goan Story’.
Soul of Asia: In this section films like Feelings to Tell, Summer is the Coldest Season, The Fourth Wall, Ten Years Japan, Ten Years Taiwan, The Other Half and Wet Season will be screened.
Mid-Fest Film: The Asian premier of Traumfabrik, a German romantic drama will take place at IFFI 2019. It is the story of a man trying to reunite with his lady love after being separated by the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961.
Festival Kaleidoscope: Films like Parasite, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Patrick, Little Joe, Synonyms, Queen of Hearts, So Long My Son and a lot more fall under this section.
Oscar Retrospective: Evergreen Oscar movies like Casablanca , Gone With the Wind, Ben Hur, The Best Years of Our Lives, All About Eve, Lawrence of Arabia, The Sound of Music, The Godfather, The Silence of the Lambs and Forrest Gump will be screened.
Restored Indian Classics: This section will include films like Ritwik Ghatak’s A River Called Titas and Uday Shankar’s Kalpana.
International Competition Section: Films like Antigone, Watch List, Captive, Steed, Stories from the Chestnut Woods and Balloon fall under this section.
Open Air Screening Section: 14 films including Hindi movies like Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Padosan, Andaz Apna Apna, Hera Pheri, Chennai Express, Badhaai Ho, Uri: The Surgical Strike, Gully Boy etc will be screened.
Accessible India Section: Movies like Lage Raho Munnabhai, M.S.Dhoni:The Untold Story and Questao De Confusao will have additional narration for the visually impaired.
Golden Lining Indian Films’ Section: To celebrate the 50th year of IFFI, several impactful films from different languages that have completed 50 years in 2019 will be screened including Satyakam by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Aradhana by Shakti Samanta.
Master Frames: This section will have 17 reputed films by international filmmakers.
Golden Peacock Award: 15 films from 20 countries including Particles, The Science of Fictions, Gamperaliya, At Five in the Afternoon, Moner Manush, Porfirio, The Bostonians, The King of Masks, Tulpan and Leviathan are among the films competing for the Golden Peacock award. Two Indian films Mai Ghat: Crime No. 103/2005 and Jallikattu are also be competing for the big award.
Best Debut Feature Award: Abou Leila, Monsters, My Name is Sara, Cleo and Romang are competing in this film section. National Award-winning film Hellaro, directed by Abhishek Shah, and Malayalam film Uyare by Manu Ashokan will also be vying for this award.
The Indian Panorama Section:
Feature Films: The jury is headed by the filmmaker Priyadarshan. 26 films including mainstream movies like Uri: The Surgical Strike, Gully Boy, Super 30 and Badhaai Ho will be screened.
Non-feature Films: This jury is headed by the filmmaker Rajendra Janglay. Ashish Pandey’s Nooreh will open the section. 15 non- feature films including Bohubritta, Letters, Bridge, Maya, Iravilum Pakalilum Odiyan and The Secret Life of Frogs will be screened.
