51st edition of IFFI to kickstart today

The 51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will kickstart today evening in Panaji, Goa. The festival scheduled till the 24th shall combine the virtual and physical experience, due to the pandemic, to be the first hybrid film festival in the country.

Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro shall be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the opening ceremony today evening which shall be conducted at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium. The event shall be attended by Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Shri Prakash Javadekar, Chief Minister of Goa Dr Pramod Sawant and the Jury members of the festival including film directors Pablo Cesar from Argentina, Prasanna Vithanage from Sri Lanka, Abu Bakr Shawky from Austria, Rubaiyat Hossain from Bangladesh, and Priyadarshan representing India. The opening film shall be Another Round by Denmark Director Thomas Vinterberg and starring Mads Mikkelsen.

The festival shall screen 224 movies from across the globe and have a total of 162 film premieres. 15 films shall compete for the prestigious Golden Peacock Award.

Under the Indian Panorama section, 43 films including feature, non-feature and mainstream films shall be screened. The Jury's choice for the Opening feature film of Indian Panorama is Tushar Hiranandani's Saand ki Aankh. 50 movies shall be screened in the World Panorama section. The festival will also screen four movies from Bangladesh, the Country in Focus this year. Several movies by Satyajit Ray shall also be screened to honour the birth centenary of the renowned filmmaker.

The film festival, organized by the Government of Goa and Directorate of Film Festivals, is usually conducted annually between November 20-28 in Goa but was postponed due to Covid-19.