Uday
Kumar Varma, Secretary in the Ministry, said IFFI had grown from
strength to strength incorporating new themes and all efforts
will be made to imbibe the spirit of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the
whole world is one family) through IFFI.
The
Chief Guest of the event and the Bollywood heartthrob Akshay Kumar
said that cinema is very important not only for him but for his
entire family. Pitching for good and wholesome cinema, he felt
proud that the festival is happening in the centenary year of
Indian Cinema.
Renowned
Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi was conferred the prestigious
Lifetime Achievement Award on the occasion by Tewari. The award
carries an amount of Rs one million, a scroll, a shawl and a certificate.
Known for producing acclaimed films like Camouflage, Family life,
and The Silent Touch, Zanussi said amidst standing ovation that
this is the most moving moment of his life that he is being awarded
for some achievement and promised to make more films in future.
He said 21st century will be Asia’s Century and it is his
deep belief that it will be India’s Century.
Goutam
Ghose, Chairman of the International Jury and all the Jury members
were felicitated by the IFFI. Ghosh said IFFI has gone through
many ups and downs but it’s still glowing. He also called
for more autonomy for the film body to function in an efficient
way.
Hosted
by Kabir Bedi and Perizaad Zorabian, the event showcased the evolution
of 100 years of Indian Cinema through a brilliant combo of music,
dance and videos conceived and directed by Jahnu Barua, Saroj
Khan and Sajjad Ali. Nearly two-hour cultural extravaganza came
to a close with the spell-bound renditions of Kailash Kher.
With
the galaxy of stars like Akshay Kumar, Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Om Puri,
Jackie Shroff, Vinay Pathak, the opening ceremony was a bit different
from the previous festivals. As a part of the international presence,
the cine lovers were treated to the company of renowned film personalities
like Kim Ki-duk, Michael Winterbottom, Susanne Bier amongst others.
Academy
Award winning Director Ang Lee’s much acclaimed 3D film “Life
of Pi” is being screened this evening as the opening film
of the 43rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI-2012).
The cast and crew of the film including Irrfan Khan and Tabu were
present on the occasion.
In
the 43rd edition of IFFI, over a hundred movies will be screened
as a part of the Indian Cinema and the World Cinema segments.
The Indian Section will bring to the audience movies from across
the country in the Indian Panorama (Feature and Non-Feature Section)
which is selected by a core jury headed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta
for the Feature and M R Rajan for the Non-Feature section. The
Indian Panorama will screen twenty feature films with ‘Baandhon’
director by Jahnu Barua as the Opening film, and nineteen films
in the non-feature section with ‘Celluloid Man’ directed
by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur as the Opening film.
Apart
from the International Competition, the cine lovers at the 43rd
IFFI will be treated to a varied line-up of world cinema which
will be showcased in sections like ‘Cinema of the World’
which will have fifty-one films from forty-two countries with
Ang Lee’s 3D film ‘Life of Pi’ as its Opening Film
and Mira Nair’s ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’
as its Closing Film. Other sections in the International section
include ‘A Cut Above’, ‘Masterstrokes’, ‘Festival
Kaleidoscope’, ‘Turkish Currents’, ‘Sketches
on Screen’, ‘Retrospective: Susanne Bier’, ‘Special
Tribute: Ashok Amritraj’, ‘In Focus: Kim Ki-duk’,
‘Soul of Asia’, ‘Documentaries’ and ‘Homages’.
