British film ‘Catching Dust’ is all set to open the 54th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), to be held in Goa from November 20 to 28. Meanwhile, ‘About Dry Grasses’ will be the Mid-fest Film and ‘The Featherweight’ will be closing the film festival.
On Monday, November 7, the Union I&B Minister Anurag Singh Thakur informed that India is the 5th largest market globally, and the media and entertainment industry is a force to reckon with. He further added that this market is growing every year with an average annual growth of 20% in the last three years. The movies made in India have covered every corner of the country and are now reaching the distant corners of the world.
What to look out for this year?
At this year’s film festival, 19 award-winning films from various prestigious international film festivals this year, have been assorted in the IFFI Kaleidoscope. Further, the ‘International section’ of the 54th IFFI will have 198 films, even 18 more than the 53rd IFFI. It will have 13 World Premiers, 18 International Premiers, 62 Asia Premiers and 89 India Premiers. Meanwhile, ‘Indian Panorama’ section will showcase 25 feature films and 20 non-feature films from India. Opening Film in the feature section is a Malyalam film, Aattam, and in the non-feature section is Andro Dreams from Manipur.
This year IFFI received a record number of 2926 entries from 105 countries, which is 3 times more international submissions than last year. Further, more than 270 films will be showcased during the festival at 4 venues – INOX Panjim (4), Maquinez Palace(1), INOX Porvorim(4), Z Square Samrat Ashok (2).
Best Web Series (OTT) Award is the newest addition. It will aimed at acknowledging, encouraging and honouring, the flourishing content and its creators of OTT platforms. 32 entries have received in 10 languages from 15 OTT platforms. Certificates and a cash prize of 10 Lakhs will be given as prize money to the winning series, which will be announced in the closing ceremony.
In addition to this, this year Hollywood Actor and Producer, Michael Douglas will be conferred with the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award. He has to his name 2 Oscars, 5 Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and countless other honors.
This year, Creative Minds of Tomorrow initiative is also being introduced at the festival. The I&B Minister informed that there are over 600 entries in this section for this year. This year’s selection of 75 winners will take the total of such winners to 225 in 3 years.
The Minister made a special mention that all the venues for this year’s IFFI will be inclusive with all facilities and access for specially-abled. Audio description for visually impaired, sign language for hearing impaired, dubbing of content in multiple languages will be symbolic of the mantra of Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas.