“Moner Manush” on Lalon to figure at Panaji
The Goutam Ghose-directed "Moner Manush" on Lalon Fakir is among three Indian feature films and among the 18 entries in the international competition section at this year's International Film Festival of India beginning in Panaji tomorrow.
Ghose's film, shot in Bangladesh and India, has a mixed cast of actors drawn from the two countries.
The two other Indian films are "Vihir" (Marathi) directed by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni and Kaushik Ganguly's English film "Just Another Love Story".
" Vihir", a multiple award-winning film in the international festival circuit, deals with friendship between two teenage boys and how they are forced to face questions related to death and life.
"Just Another Love Story" tells the story of a gay filmmaker (a role essayed by acclaimed director Rituporno Ghosh) and a bisexual cinematographer (played by Indraneil Sengupta) who decide to re-evaluate their love life.
The competition section this year is open to all feature films from across the world this year. Earlier, this section was restricted to films from Asia, Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin America.
This section includes "West is West" by Andy De Emmony, Chinese film "Apart Together" directed by Wang Quan An and Hollywood entry "Shit Year" directed by Cam Archer.
It also contains films from Iran, Israel, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Mexico and New Zealand.
The festival has introduced two awards in the competition section -- Best Actor and Best Actress.
The Best Film would be awarded the prestigious Golden Peacock besides prize money of Rs 40 lakh; the Best Director the Silver Peacock and a prize money of Rs 15 lakh, while the Best Actor and Actress would take home a Silver Peacock and a prize money of Rs 10 lakh each.
The Special Jury Award winner would be given a Silver Peacock and a cash prize of Rs 15 lakh.
The awards will be announced and presented at the closing ceremony on December 2.
The IFFI also announced a five-member international jury which will be headed by Polish writer-director-producer Jerzy Antczak. The four other members of the Jury are Mick Molloy, Olivier Pere, Indian actress-filmmaker Revathy Menon and Sturla Gunnarsson.
Meanwhile, for the first time, film projects from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be part of the Film Bazaar to be organised by India's National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) as part of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI).
The objective behind this is to present a window for filmmakers from these countries to various buyers and sellers from all around the world.
This year for the first time, the Film Bazaar will organise industry screenings for filmmakers to showcase their films to potential producers, distributors, agents, buyers and representatives of international film festivals.
The state-of-the-art screening facility will have multiple screens of 12-seater theatres and will be have digital and 3D compatible projection to portray their work in its complete essence, the NFDC said in a statement.
This will also help the international buyers to make "informed and quick" decisions on the various projects they are interested in. These theatres have been set-up in collaboration with UFO Moviez, the statement added.
This will be the 4th year NFDC will be conducting the Film Bazaar alongside the International Film Festival of India. Last year, over 350 delegates from 22 countries had attended Film Bazaar.
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