54th International Film Festival of India to begin in Goa today
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Panaji: The 54th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), will commence on Monday, November 20, at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium in Taleigao, Goa.
The nine-day cinematic extravaganza promises a captivating lineup with 13 world premieres, 18 international premieres, 62 Asia premieres, and 89 India premieres. The festival will open with the screening of the British film, 'Catching Dust,' narrating the tale of a wife seeking to break free from her criminal husband.
Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Minister for State of Information and Broadcasting L Murugan and others will be present at the event.
According to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Michael Douglas, Hollywood actor and producer, will accept the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award. Spanish filmmaker-writer Carlos Saura was bestowed with this honour during the 53rd edition of IFFI.
More than 270 films will be showcased during the festival at four venues – INOX Panjim, Maquinez Palace, INOX Porvorim and Z Square Samrat Ashok. The international section of the 54th IFFI will have 198 films, 18 more than the 53rd IFFI.
“This year IFFI received a record number of 2,926 entries from 105 countries, which is three times more than the international submissions. The Indian Panorama section will showcase 25 feature films and 20 non-feature films from India. The Opening Film in the feature section is a Malayalam film Aattam, and in the non-feature section is Andro Dreams from Manipur,” Prithul Kumar, a spokesperson in the Ministry for Information and Broadcasting said.
Prithul also said that the Best Web Series (OTT) Award has been introduced this year aiming at acknowledging, encouraging and honouring the flourishing content and its creators of OTT platforms.
“Thirty-two entries have been received in 10 languages from 15 OTT platforms. Certificates and a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh will be given as prize money to the winning series, which will be announced in the closing ceremony,” he added.
The festival's opening ceremony promises to be a visual feast, featuring performances by acclaimed actors Madhuri Dixit, Shahid Kapoor, Shriya Saran, Nushrat Bharucha, Pankaj Tripathi, and composer-musician Shantanu Moitra. Singing sensations Shreya Ghoshal and Sukhwinder Singh will also take the stage.
The star-studded guest list includes Hollywood's Catherine Zeta-Jones and Bollywood luminaries such as Salman Khan, Vidya Balan, Ayushmann Khurrana, Vicky Kaushal, Siddharth Malhotra, Aditi Rao Hydari, and music maestros AR Rahman and Amit Trivedi.