'Hope' to feature in IFFI Panorama

The 37th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will get off to a flying start in Goa on November 23, with nearly 200 international and Indian films screened during the 11-day period.

The annual extravaganza will open with the Penelope Cruz-starrer Spanish comedy 'Volver' that bagged the 'Best Screenplay' and 'Best Actress' awards at the Cannes, and will culminate with Brad Pitt's 'Babel', the winner of 'Best Director' award at the Cannes again.

Addressing a press conference here recently, Nandini Paliwal, chief executive of Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), said that a total of 112 critically-acclaimed international films would be screened during the festival.

Tamil film 'Sringaram' by Sharada Ramanathan and 'Sonam' by upcoming filmmaker Ahsan Muzid in Arunachali dialect Monpa would represent India in the Asian, African and Latin American Competition section and vie for the Golden Peacock award.

"The Golden Peacock award for the best film will carry a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh, while a Rs 5-lakh Silver Peacock award will be given to the most promising director. A special jury award awaits a director for his/her individual artistic contribution," she said. In the Indian Panorama, 20 movies including Bollywood film 'Corporate' by Madhur Bhandarkar, Bengali film 'Dosar' by Rituparna Ghosh, 'Drishtantham' by MP Sukumaran Nair, 'Ekantham' by Madhu Kaithapuram and K Sathyanarayan-directed 'Hope' featuring noted Telugu film producer D Ramanaidu in the main lead would be showcased in the feature film section , while 6 films including Malayalam film 'Andhium' directed by Jacob Verghese and 'And the World Remained Silent' directed by Ashok Pandut would be screened in the non-feature section, she said. As a prelude to the film festival, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is organising a one-and-half-day conference on 'India - The Big Picture' at the Goa Marriot Resort on November 22 and 23.

The conference is dedicated to the changing face of India cinema, and provides an opportunity to network with the key executives from the leading organisations in the business.

Besides, a series of 'Film Bazaar' workshops are being planned for six days with participation from international countries, film associations, production houses, exporters, studios and infrastructure providers.