Two Indian Bengali films have been chosen to compete in the international competition section at the 11-day long International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which is underway in Goa.
Among the 15 films, which will be competing at International Competition Films' section, only two Indian films, 'Natoker Moto' by Debesh Chatterjee and 'Cinemawala' by Kaushik Ganguly, have been chosen to represent India for IFFI's golden peacock award for the best film.
In collaboration with International Council for Film, Television and Audiovisual Communication (ICFT), Paris, and UNESCO, IFFI 2015 will present the award to a film which reflects the ideals promoted by UNESCO. An international jury has been constituted to decide on the winner.
The first screening of 'Cinemawala' at the event drew actor Dhritiman Chatterjee's praise, who dubbed the film as 'an absolute gem at IFFI' on Twitter. The film has been selected to compete for a special prize at IFFI this year- the ICFTUNESCO Fellini Prize. This is the only Bengali film to be competing for the prestigious award.
As many as 187 films from 89 foreign countries were screened under various sections such as Masterstrokes, International competition, Country Focus, Restored Classics, Indian Panorama, First cut and a Retrospective on Amos Gitai. Forty-seven films, cutting across languages and genres, were screened as part of the Indian Panorama section, an opportunity which the Indian filmmakers consider as a great honour.
Meanwhile, the 46th edition of the IFFI, which commenced here 10 days ago, is all set to wrap up today with a grand closing ceremony that will be held at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium in Panaji.
