280 films from 79 countries: ‘Alma and Oskar’ from Australia inaugural film at IFFI

Austrian film ‘Alma and Oskar’ directed Dieter Berner will be the inaugural film of the 53rd edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which will begin in Goa on November 20.
As many as 280 films from 79 countries, including 25 feature and 20 non-feature films from India in the ‘Indian Panorama’ section, will be screened at the festival, which will conclude on November 28.
The Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Spanish film director Carlos Saura. An eight-film retrospective dedicated to Saura, who received the Golden Bear for best director at the Berlin International Film Festival for Deprisa Deprisa, will be a major attraction of the IFFI.
France is the ‘Spotlight’ country this year– eight French films will be screened under the ‘Country Focus’.
Three films featuring this year’s Dadasaheb Phalke awardee Asha Parekh – ‘Teesri Manzil’, ‘Do Badan and Kati Patang’ – will be screened as part of Asha Parekh retrospective. Krzysztof Zanussi’s ‘Perfect Number’ will be the closing film.
Addressing the media in New Delhi on Monday, Miner of State for Information & Broadcasting L Murugan said five feature and five non-feature films will be screened to promote films from the North-East and marking golden jubilee of Manipuri cinema.
For the first time, pavilions will make an appearance at the IFFI in line with major international markets such as Marche du Cannes. The 42 pavilions will house film offices of various state governments, participating countries, industry players and media units from the I&B minry.
Many restored classics will be available at ‘The Viewing Room’ where one will be able to buy the rights of these films and use them at film festivals across the globe.
A book adaptation programme has been introduced to promote film adaptation of books. Some publishers are also expected to be present to sell the rights of the books for making films. Several films, including Richard Attenborough’s Oscar-winning film ‘Gandhi’, will be screened in the ‘Divyangjan’ section, with embedded audio descriptions and subtitles.
Tributes will also be paid to singer Lata Mangeshkar, singer-composer Bappi Lahiri, Kathak maestro Pt. Birju Maharaj, actors Ramesh Deo and Maheshwari Amma, singer KK, director Tarun, Assamese actor Nipon Das and singer Bhupinder Singh. In the International section, IFFI will pay homage to Bob Rafelson, Ivan Reitman, Peter Bogdanovich, Douglas Trumbell and Monica Vitti.
The ‘Indian Panorama’ will open with Prithvi Konanur’s Kannada film ‘Hadinelentu’ while ‘The Show Must Go On’ Divya Cowasji will flag off the non-feature film section. There will be special screenings of Pan Nalin’s ‘Chello Show—The Last Film Show’, India’s official entry to the Oscars in the Best Foreign Language category, and Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘India Lockdown’.
Upcoming Telugu film, Raymo, Deepti Naval and Kalki Koechlin’s ‘Goldfish’ and Randeep Hooda and Ileana D’Cruz’s ‘Tera Kya Hoga Lovely’ will be premiered at the IFFI, along with an episode of OTT shows like ‘Vadhandhi’, ‘Khakee’ and ‘Fauda Season 4’.