Amitabh Bachchan, Rajnikanth to kick off golden jubilee celebration of IFFI | Bollywood - Hindustan Times
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Amitabh Bachchan, Rajnikanth to kick off golden jubilee celebration of IFFI

Hindustan Times | ByGerard de Souza
Nov 19, 2019 09:24 PM IST

Amitabh Bachchan and Rajnikanth, arguably two of the country’s biggest film personalities will throw open the golden jubilee edition of the International Film Festival of India in Goa.

Amitabh Bachchan and Rajnikanth, arguably two of the country’s biggest film personalities along with Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar and a host of film personalities will throw open the golden jubilee edition of the International Film Festival of India in Goa on Wednesday throwing open the eight day film extravaganza often billed as India’s answer to Cannes.

Rajinikanth will be honoured with a special Icon of Golden Jubilee award at IFFI.
Rajinikanth will be honoured with a special Icon of Golden Jubilee award at IFFI.

Addressing a press conference, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant promised delegates that the festival would offer a complete spectrum of the film cultures from across the country which he said would be the special feature of the golden jubilee participation.

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“States from across the country will set up pavilions at the IFFI venue displaying the film culture and personalities. So far eight states of the country have confirmed that they will set up pavilions,” Sawant said. The festival this year will have a special focus on films from Russia.

The highlight of the festival is the international competition section in which 15 films representing 20 countries competing for the Golden Peacock Award.

John Bailey Ex. President Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences to head the International Jury of this year’s edition.

Marathi film ‘Mai Ghat: Crime No. 103/2005’ directed by Ananth Narayan Mahadevan and Malayalam film Jallikattu directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery are the two Indian films competing in the international competition section.

Besides the International Competition, Indian Panorama section is a flagship section of IFFI, which showcases the best of contemporary Indian feature and non-feature films of the year.

This year’s edition will feature 26 feature films and 15 non feature films including mainstream films like Uri: The Surgical Strike, Gully Boy, F2 (a Telugu film), Supre 30 and others.

Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar addresses a press conference, in New Delhi, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019. The 50th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will honour superstar Rajinikanth with a special Icon of Golden Jubilee award, announced the Minister during the conference. (PTI)
Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar addresses a press conference, in New Delhi, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019. The 50th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will honour superstar Rajinikanth with a special Icon of Golden Jubilee award, announced the Minister during the conference. (PTI)

The 50th International Film Festival of India, 2019 will witness around 200 best films from 76 countries, 26 feature films and 15 non feature films in Indian panorama section and more than 10,000 people and film lovers are expected to participate in the golden jubilee edition.

The festival will open with the Italian film ‘Nonostante La Nebbia’ (Despite the Fog), directed by Goran Paskaljevic while “Marghe and Her Mother” directed by Iranian filmmaker, Mohsen Makhmalbaf will bring the festival to a close on November 28.

IFFI is jointly organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals, a Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting agency and the Goa government’s Entertainment Society of Goa, which have collectively spent around Rs. 40 crore for organising the 50th edition.

A special felicitation will recognise the contribution of legends of Indian cinema like Ramesh Sippy, N Chandra and PC Shreeram at the inaugural event. John Bailey (Chairman of Jury), Robbin Campillo, Zhang Yang, Lynne Ramsay and Sippy, as juries will be judging films screened in the festival’s competition section.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has already announced a special award titled ‘Icon of Golden Jubilee of IFFI’ which will be conferred upon the eminent film personality S Rajinikanth “in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Indian cinema, during the past several decades.”

Similarly French actor Isabelle Huppert to be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award The Lifetime Achievement Award, IFFI, is the highest honour and the most prestigious award of the festival. The award carries a cash prize of 1-lakh.

The festival will also feature master classes by experts from the industry, panel discussions and interactive sessions with celebrities.

The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) aims at providing a common platform to the cinemas across the world to project the excellence of the art of filmmaking.

IFFI was started way back in 1952, the first ever IFFI was organized by the Films Division, Government of India, with the patronage of the first Prime Minister of India – Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru.

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