The 54th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is set to commence on November 20 at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium in Goa.
The festival will have 13 World Premieres, 18 International Premieres, 62 Asia premieres, and 89 India Premieres.
Organised by the National Film Development Corporation Limited (NFDC) under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, the nine-day event, scheduled to be held from November 18 to 26, 2023, promises an immersive experience for the selected participants, stated a release on Sunday.
Union minister for information and broadcasting, Anurag Singh Thakur will inaugurate the festival.
It will start with the screening of the British film ‘Catching Dust’, a movie that narrates the tale of a wife seeking to leave her criminal husband.
At this year’s festival, 19 award-winning films from various international film festivals this year have been assorted in the IFFI Kaleidoscope. The ‘international section’ will have 198 films and the festival will have 13 World Premieres, 18 International Premieres, 62 Asia premieres, and 89 India Premieres.
The ‘Indian Panorama’ section will showcase 25 feature films and 20 non-feature films from India—with the opening films in the feature selection and the non-feature selection to be the Malayalam film ‘Aattam’ and the Manipuri language film ‘Andro Dreams’, respectively.
Meena Longjam’s Andro Dreams, which documents the journey of a girls football club from a remote village in Manipur won the ‘Best Documentary’ at the 8th edition of the Jagran Film Festival in Mumbai on Sunday.
Andro Dreams edited by Sankhajit Biswas is yet another feather in the cap of Manipur’s film industry.
The documentary directed by Meena Longjam is about the struggles of two brave protagonists – that of Laibi, who is in her 60s and runs a football club AMMA FC, and her most promising young football player Nirmala.
ALSO READ: Meena Longjam’s 'Andro Dreams' wins Best Documentary
Manipur’s own budding filmmaker Shamurailatpam Bishwajit Sharma has been selected as one of the ‘75 Creative Minds of Tomorrow’ at the 54th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI).
Renowned filmmaker Shekhar Kapur will be the jury head for the 54th IFFI. Meanwhile, the five-member jury panel will consist of Spanish cinematographer Jose Luis Alcaine and producers Jerome Paillard, Catherine Dussart, and Helen Leake.
Filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani will serve as the head of the five-member jury for the best web series (OTT) —a new category in the awards ceremony—at IFFI.
In addition to this, this year Hollywood Actor and Producer, Michael Douglas will be conferred with the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award. He has to his name two Oscars, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and countless other honors.
A star-studded opening ceremony will also witness performances by Shahid Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Nushratt Bharucha, and many other Bollywood celebrities. Hollywood actor Catherine Zeta Jones, along with AR Rahman, Vidya Balan, Karan Johar, and Sara Ali Khan will also be present in the nine-day cinematic event.
The closing ceremony on November 28 will feature performances by Ayushmann Khurrana and music composer Amit Trivedi.
