ABOUT IFFI
The 40th International Film Festival of India (IIFI) 2009 will be held in Goa from November 23 to December 3, 2009. This 11 day extravaganza is the biggest annual film event in South Asia, involving participation of at least 50 countries, 200 world acclaimed films and 6000 delegates.
The first IFFI was held in 1952 and since 1975, it has been held annually. There is an International Competition having a prize money of $1,40,000. Indian Panorama, showcasing the best of Indian cinema, is also an important component of the festival.
The festival programme is divided into 4 sections:
1. The Film Programming is the core of the festival and screens nearly 300 films during the period of 11 days across 10 Auditoria and 3 preview rooms in the cities of Panaji and Margao in Goa.
The most popular sections in the film programming include competitions for feature films from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Cinema of the World, Tributes, Homages, Retrospectives, Country Focus, Indian Panorama and specially curated sections.
2. Non film programming includes a range of seminars, symposia, debates, product and service presentation, pitching sessions etc.
3. Film Bazar conducts scripting workshops, home production forums etc. and Short Film Center apart from having the International competition for Shorts and Documentaries below 30 minutes also organises another competition of shorts and documentaries on environmental issues. The award money for both the competition sections is USD 26000.
The Short Film Center is a business platform which serves the interests of film producers, actors, cinematographers, sound recordists, funding agencies, film festival programmers at the festival. A total of nearly 500 films are likely to be registered at the Short Film Center.
4. Cultural Programmes – The festival conducts a special festival fair at the Corniche between Old GMC and Kala Academy. This fair is organised by the picturesque River Mandovi between 23rd November to 3rd December 2009. The fair presents glimpses into the life and culture of Goa and an opportunity for festival delegates and local population to celebrate this festival of Cinema.
IFFI 2009
Veteran actress Waheeda Rehman and noted Malayalam actor Mammootty will be the chief guests at the opening and closing ceremonies of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) beginning at Panaji on November 23.
While internationally-renowned actor Kabir Bedi and actress Divya Dutta have been named to compere the opening ceremony, in which Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni will be present, Asin of Ghajini fame would light the ceremonial lamp.
As part of the Indian Panorama, 26 feature films and 18 non-features would be screened. These includes Shob Charitro Kalponik (Bengali), Harishchandrachi Factory (Marathi), Kaminey (Hindi), Ijjodu (Kannada), Pasanga (Tamil), Kutty Srank (Malayalam) and Haat: The Weekly Bazaar (Rajasthani).
The bouquet of non-feature films includes Bilal (Bengali), What If? (English), Superman of Malegaon (Hindi), Illisa Anagi Mahao (Manipuri) and Kelkkunnundo (Malayalam).
The Indian Panorama would open with Paltadcho Manis (by Laxmikant Shetganokar in Konkani) and Dot in for Motion (Anirban Datta, English).
The tribute section would pay homage to 13 film personalities who passed away since IFFI 2008 - Nabendu Chatterjee, Prakash Mehra, Gulshan Bawra, Leela Naidu, Shakti Samanta, Feroz Khan, Murali, A K Lohitadas, Rajan P Dev, Nilu Phule, Bhaskar Chandavarkar, R Lakshman and Nagesh.
Under Golden Jubilee Retro section, the contributions of Asha Parekh, Sharmila Tagore and Saumitra Chatterjee who have completed 50 years in the industry would be saluted. A retrospective of Kamal Haasan's films, who also completed 50 years in films this year, would be showcased in February 2010 in Delhi.
The International Section of IFFI includes 'Cinema of World' with 55 films from 45 countries. Another important component called 'Foreign Section' would have retrospectives of well-known directors like Gurinder Chadha, Nonzee Nimabitur, Roland Reber, Joao Batista and Manoel De Olivera.
The Continent Focus in IFFI 2009 would be films from Latin America and Country Focus would be on Croatia, Italy, Poland, Estonia and France.
Film India Worldwide would be another attraction in the cinema of world section, which will showcase films made by NRIs in collaboration with foreign filmmakers. There will also be a section on anti-war films.
The international jury comprises of prominent directors, actors and film critics like Joao Batista de Andrade, Vic Sarin, Ken'ichi Okubo, Jean-Michel Frodon and Sarika.
About the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG)
Established by the Government of Goa in 2004, as the nodal agency in the organization of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), the main objective of the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) is to frame an entertainment policy to help cultivate Goa into a world-class international entertainment nerve center of the country.
Successfully hosting the 35th, 36th ,37th and 38th International Film Festival of India to a glare of media and fanfare, the objective of the Entertainment Society of Goa is to work towards building global visibility and branding. This goal ensures that the State earns revenue on a long term basis from ventures in film entertainment and leisure projects.
Spearheading this objective by hosting the International Film Festival of India, the Entertainment Society of India believes in making a concerted effort to build a year-round event calendar, encouraging joint co-productions with international brands in the field of cinema, marketing and branding Goa through ventures that focus on entertainment and its allied activities.
Mooted by the Govt of Goa and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Delhi based on Goa's world reputation as a tourist destination, with its unique flavour of European lifestyle co-existing with multi-cultural ethnic sensibilities, Goa is now the permanent venue host for the Film Festival. This has invited consensus from internationally recognized organizations, film bodies and elsewhere in India as the ideal venue for IFFI.
Building on its mandate to create public consciousness about films and film festivals, the Entertainment Society of Goa endeavours to inculcate a cinematic sense of appreciation and infrastructure to attract international standard film studios, film institutes and build comprehensive facilities and provide services for telecommunications, entertainment and its allied products, through a self-sustaining pattern of revenue generation.