54th IFFI Set To Begin On Monday With A Gala Opening Ceremony

New Delhi, November 19 (TNA) Setting alight the shores of Goa, the 54th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is all set to begin on Monday at Panaji Goa with a gala opening ceremony. Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur will inaugurate the event at Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium.

The Minister will felicitate the filmmakers and cast of the opening film at INOX Complex. The Minister will also inaugurate the Film Bazaar on the sidelines of IFFI 54. The Film Bazaar is South Asia’s largest global film market organised by National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) alongside IFFI every year, supporting and showcasing the South Asian content and talent in film making, production and distribution. It also facilitates the promotion of world cinema in the south Asian region.

The Opening Ceremony will showcase performances by Bollywood superstars Madhuri Dixit and Shahid Kapoor. Bollywood stars Shriya Saran, Nushratt Bharucha, Pankaj Tripathi, Shantanu Moitra, Shreya Ghoshal and Sukhwinder Singh will also perform in the opening ceremony. The Festival would be graced by eminent personalities from the film industry Catherine Zeta Jones, Salman Khan, Vidya Balan, Ayushmann Khurrana, Anupam Kher, Vicky Kaushal, Siddharth Malhotra, Aditi Rao Hydari, AR Rahman, Amit Trivedi, among other celebrated actors, singers and filmmakers.

The nine day film festival, showcasing an eclectic array of world cinema to the audiences worldwide, will kick-start with the international premiere of Catching Dust, by award-winning British filmmaker Stuart Gatt.

This year, IFFI has received an overwhelming response. A total of 2926 entries from 105 countries were received, which is three times more international submissions than last year. During the nine day festival, more than 270 films will be showcased at 4 venues of the festival. 13 World Premieres, 18 International Premieres, 62 Asia Premiers and 89 India Premieres will be screened during the festival.

A total of 32 entries have been received in 10 languages from 15 OTT platforms for Best Web Series (OTT) Award. 15 feature films (12 International films and 3 Indian films) will compete for the coveted Golden Peacock award this year. To highlight the importance of documentary film making, a Docu-Montage section has also been introduced this year. Besides this, Seven International films and three Indian films that reflect the ideals of UNESCO will also be featured in ICFT UNESCO Gandhi medal award session during the festival.