The Best Web Series (OTT) Award has been introduced this year.
IFFI 54: “The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is one of the world’s 14 biggest and most prestigious ‘International Competition Feature Film Festivals’ that is accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers’ Association (FIAPF), the international body governing film festivals globally. International Film Festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, and Venice are other reputed festivals, accredited by FIAPF under this category,” said Prithul Kumar, MD NFDC and Joint Secretary Films, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. He was speaking at the Curtain Raiser Press Conference for the 54th International Film Festival of India in Panaji on Sunday.
Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award
Elaborating on this year’s edition of the festival Kumar said, “One of the highlights of IFFI is the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award (SRLTA) presented for Excellence in World Cinema. Michael Douglas, a Hollywood Actor and Producer, who is presently one of the greatest international figures in world cinema, will be there in IFFI, to accept this prestigious award, along with his wife and acclaimed actress Catherine Zeta-Jones.”
More than 270 films will be showcased during the festival at 4 venues – INOX Panjim, Maquinez Palace, INOX Porvorim, and Z Square Samrat Ashok. The ‘International section’ of the 54th IFFI will have 198 films, 18 more than the 53rd IFFI. It will have 13 World Premiers, 18 International Premiers, 62 Asia Premiers and 89 India Premiers. This year IFFI received a record number of 2926 entries from 105 countries, which is 3 times more than the international submissions than last year.
Indian Panorama
‘Indian Panorama’ section will showcase 25 feature films and 20 non-feature films from India. The Opening Film in the feature section is Malayalam film “Aattam”, and in the non-feature section is “Andro Dreams” from Manipur.
The Best Web Series (OTT) Award has been introduced this year. Aimed at acknowledging, encouraging, and honouring the flourishing content and its creators of OTT platforms. 32 entries have been received in 10 languages from 15 OTT platforms. Certificates and a cash prize of Rs 10 lakhs will be given as prize money to the winning series, which will be announced in the closing ceremony.
Docu-Montage Section
A Docu-Montage section featuring a mosaic of compelling documentaries from around the world has also been introduced this year to mark India’s Oscar entry in the field and also to highlight the growing importance of documentaries in filmmaking today.
Apart from this, also introduced is a Restored Classics section featuring 7 world premieres of the world class restorations done by NFDC-NFAI under the National Film Heritage Mission (NFHM) from the damaged celluloid reels of the Indian Classics. Further, there will be 3 international restored films also showcased in this section.
Masterclasses And In Conversation Sessions
With over 20 ‘Masterclasses’ and ‘In Conversation’ sessions with eminent filmmakers, cinematographers, and actors, IFFI this year promises to be an exciting week. The sessions will be held at the renovated & refurbished Kala Academy at Festival Mile, Panjim, Goa. Michael Douglas, Brendan Galvin, Brillante Mendoza, Sunny Deol, Rani Mukerjee, Vidya Balan, John Goldwater, Vijay Sethupathi, Sara Ali Khan, Pankaj Tripathi, Nawazuddin Siddhiqui, Kaykay Menon, Karan Johar, Madhur Bhandarkar, Manoj Bajpayee, Kartiki Gonsalves, Boney Kapoor, Allu Aravind, Theodore Gluck, Gulshan Grover and others will be participating in the sessions this year.
There will also be facilities at the festival to ensure that specially-abled festival delegates can access all the screening and other venues.