The 49th International Film Festival of India began in Goa today.
It showcases New India through a variety of genres of cinema, including history, action, romance and sports.
The state of focus is Jharkhand, with Jharkhand Day being celebrated on the 24th November as part of the festival.
The Country of Focus is Israel. Ten films from Israel will be screened at the festival.
Governor of Goa Mridula Sinha, Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore graced the occasion.
The theme of this grand event is New India through a variety of genres of cinema.
Themes of history, action and romance ran through the colourful opening ceremony.
Sonu Sood with his action packed set, and Shilpa Rao in a romantic number as well as dancers opening the ceremony with a mesmerising act left the audiences spell bound.
The audience caught glimpses of the festival opening film “The Aspern Papers”, which tells a story of obsession, grandeur lost and dreams of Byronic adventures.
This year as an extension of the Khelo India Branding, Indian Sports Biopics will also be screened including Mary Kom, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and MSD: The untold story. Karan Johar sat down in conversation with Akshay Kumar from Gold and olympic medal winner and Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore.
The grand show included a tribute to iron man Sardar Patel.
A book on women in cinema published by publications division was also released by Governor of Goa, Mridula Sinha.
Information and Broadcasting Secretary hailed the films sector as being full of potential.Israeli Director Dan Wolman was honoured with the lifetime achievement award.
This edition of the festival will showcase 212 films from over 68 countries which reflects diversity of taste. International Competition section has 15 films out of which 3 are Indian.
Competition section represents films produced and co-produced by 22 countries. 26 feature and 21 non – feature Indian films will be screened in the Indian Panorama section.
The Country of Focus is Israel. Ten films have been selected for the country focus package.
The state of focus is Jharkhand and Jharkhand Day will be celebrated on 24th November as part of the festival.
This year as an extension of the Khelo India Branding, Indian Sports Biopics will also be screened including Mary Kom, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and MSD: The untold story.
The Homage section pays tribute to Shashi Kapoor, Sridevi, Karunanidhi and Kalpana Lajmi. And in a special, a delight has been planned for Visually challenged Children.
There will be special screenings of ‘Sholay’ and ‘Hichki’ with audio description under this section.
