IFFI 2015 ideal example of Centre-State synergy

IFFI 2015 ideal example of Centre-State synergy

NFHM key initiative of I&B Ministry to Restore & Digitize films: Col. Rathore

Colombian film ‘Embrace of the Serpent’ wins the Golden Peacock at 46th IFFI

Russian Filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov conferred Lifetime Achievement Award at IFFI-2015

Bengali film Cinemawala awarded UNESCO Fellini Medal

French Actor Vincent Lindon wins Best Actor Award for his film ‘The Measure of a Man

Best Actor (Female) award shared by five actors of Turkish film ‘Mustang’

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore has said that the International Film Festival of India provided a unique platform for confluence of ideas and stories from across the world and helped to learn from each other. This helped in better realization of the commonality of the joys and sorrows that transcended all kinds of distinctions and boundaries. The Minister stated this while speaking at the closing ceremony of 46th International Film Festival of India at Panaji, Goa. Honorable Governor of Goa, Smt. Mridula Sinha, Chief Minister of Goa, Shri Laxmikant Parsekar, Secretary I&B Shri Sunil Arora and Shri A.R.Rehman were also present on the occasion.

The Minister during his address stated that excellent coordination between centre and state made IFFI a grand success. Elaborating on the new media initiatives this year Col. Rathore said that the festival reached out to the larger audience through various initiatives like Live Streaming of Press Conferences, Festival Mobile App, Talkathons for disseminating the information and content of the festival. He said that there was also a special section on National Film Heritage Mission at IFFI 2015 which showcased Ministry of I&B efforts to restore and digitize films and archive film material. He said that out of a total of 1300 films, 375 films had already been digitized and preserved.

The world renowned and Oscar-winning music composer Mr. A. R. Rahman who was the chief guest of the evening on the occasion said that Cinema helped us understand culture and commonality of consciousness of people across the world.

Chief Minister of Goa, Shri Laxmikant Parsekar said that IFFI had further enhanced the image of Goa as world class filming destination. The festival had also inculcated the film culture in Goa. He said that the IFFI 2015 showcased excellent cinema with participation from eminent national and international film personalities.

Secretary I&B, Shri Sunil Arora speaking on the occasion said that last ten days at IFFI showcased masterpieces from across the globe. He said people in film industry had stood the test of time and became the iconic figures in India and abroad. He said the next IFFI in 2016 would definitely be a step up on IFFI-2015.

Honorable Governor of Goa, Smt. Mridula Sinha along with Chief Minister of Goa, Shri Laxmikant Parsekar and Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting presented the Lifetime Achievement Award toRussian Filmmaker Mr.Nikita Mikhalkov for his contributions to world cinema.

The Colombian film ‘Embrace of the Serpent’ directed by Ciro Guerra and produced by Cristina Gallego bagged Golden Peacock award for Best Film at the closing ceremony of 46th International Film Festival of India while British Film director Peter Greenaway bagged the award for Best Director for his film ‘Eisenstein in Guanajuato’ from Netherlands. The Special Jury award went to the film “Sealed Cargo” directed by Julia Vargas. The Special Mention Award was given to the Serbian film “Enclave” directed by Mr. Goran Radovanovic.

French actor Mr. Vincent Lindon won the best Actor (Male) award for the movie “The Measure of a Man”. The film, a French social drama turns the spotlight on ordinary people who were pushed by circumstances to the corners. The Best Actor (Female) award was shared by five actors of Turkish film ‘Mustang’. The film set in a remote Turkish village depicts the life of five young orphaned sisters and challenges they faced growing up as girls in a conservative society. Ms. Gunes Sensoy, Ms.Doga Doguslu, Ms. Tugba Sunguroglu, Ms. Elit Iscan and Ms. Ilayda Akdogan were awarded Silver Peacock at the ceremony.

The ICFT- UNESCO Fellini Prize was given to the Bengali movie “Cinemawala” by Kaushik Ganguly. The award was presented first time in India to a film which reflected the ideals of peace, tolerance, non-violence and friendship promoted by UNESCO. The award was presented in collaboration with the International Council for Film, Television and Audiovisual Communication (ICFT), Paris and UNESCO.

The festival this year added many innovative products to the festival profile. There were many new initiatives such as “Master classes” with the Oscar Academy members on various aspects of Film Making. It also organized sections such as “First Cut” which specially curated selection of films representing the first work of the emerging talent in world cinema and an exclusive section “Womenclature of Cinema” by Indian women film makers. The festival also had a special series titled “In Conversation with Director” which focused on talks with Director from different eras to share their views on Cinema as journey, their influences, their films and future of cinema. IFFI-2015 also portrayed the excellence of Indian cinema in the Indian Panorama section which also included a special focus on North-East cinema. There was a special section on ‘World Cinema Restored Classics’ to highlight the idea of film restoration. It featured a package of classics to put spotlight on National Film Heritage Mission (NFHM) through a Multimedia Exhibition organized by NFAI & DAVP.

The festival paid a special Tribute to the winner of the Life time Achievement Award, the Russian filmmaker, Mr.Nikita Mikhalkov by having a separate section on his selective films- Burnt by the Sun, Sunstroke, Barber of Siberia and Oblomob.

The festival received an unprecedented 790 films as entries. There were 26 official Oscar entries besides films from leading Film festivals such as Cannes, Toronto and Berlin. In the International competition section out of 15 entries, 5 films were official Oscar entries from different countries. 90 countries were represented at IFFI this year which also showcased 120 Film Premiers across different sections. In Indian Panorama section The festival showcased 26 Feature and 21 Non-Feature films.

The popular Sand Artist, Rahul Arya presented his mesmerising sand art performance at the ceremony. Artistes from the internationally-acclaimed Shillong Chamber Choir from North-East gave a scintillating performances portraying the Indian cinema through various dance forms and sequences.

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Embrace of the Serpent bags Golden Peacock at IFFI 2015

Kaushik Ganguly’s ‘Cinemawala’ honoured with the UNESCO-Fellini medal

Lifetime Achievement Award presented to Russian filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov

Curtains came down on the 46th International Film Festival of India, IFFI with a grand award presentation ceremony at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee indoor stadium in Goa today.

Amidst colourful cultural performance and in the presence of prominent personalities from the world of cinema, the awards were presented to the winners at a glittering ceremony attended by the Governor of Goa, Ms. Mridula Sinha, Chief Minister of Goa Shri Laxmikant Parsekar, Union Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and I&B Secretary Shri Sunil Arora. Internationally acclaimed music director A. R. Rahman was the chief guest on the occasion.

The Awards

Internationally co-produced adventure drama film ‘Embrace of the Serpent’ (Al Abrazo de la Serpiente) bagged the Best FilmAward at the 46^th IFFI. The film produced by Christina Gallego and directed by Ciro Guerra depicts the first contact, encounter, approach, betrayal and eventually life transcending friendship between Amazonian shaman Karamakate and two scientists who work together over the course of 40 years to search the Amazon for a sacred healing plant. The film is shot in the Amazonian rain forest in richly detailed black and white. The Best Film Award comprises the Golden Peacock and a citation with a prize money of Rs 40 lakhs (Rs 4 million) to be shared between the Director and the Producer.

The Best Director award went to Peter Greenaway for the film ‘Eisenstein in Guanajuato’. Greenway portrays the lead character Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein as an eccentric, self absorbed artiste who travels to a new place and culture and is forced by the experiences he has there to question his assumptions about himself and Stalinist Russia. Peter Greenway is a British film Director, initially trained as a painter, who later took to film making. The Best Director is presented with a Silver Peacock, a citation and a prize money of Rs 15 lakhs (Rs 1.5 million)

The Best Actor (Male) went to Vincent Lindon for his portrayal of a laid off factory worker Thierry Taogourdeau in the film ‘The Measure of a Man’. The film, a French social drama turns the spotlight on ordinary people who are pushed by circumstances to the corners.

The Best Actor (Female) award was shared by Gunes Sensoy, Doga Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu, Elit Iscan and Ilyada Akdoganfor portrayal of role of five young orphaned sisters in the Turkish fim ‘Mustang. The film set in a remote Turkish village depicts the life of five young orphaned sisters and challenges they face growing up as girls in a conservative society.

The Best Actor – Male and Female are awarded the Silver Peacock, citation and a prize money of Rs 10 lakhs each (Rs 1 million)

The Special Jury Award went to the Spanish film ‘Sealed Cargo’ (Carga Sellada) directed by Julia Vargas. The Special Jury Award carries a Silver Peacock, citation and a cash prize of Rs 15 lakhs (Rs 1.5 million)

The Serbian film ‘Enclave’ directed by Goran Radovanovic got the special mention award. The main theme of the film is life of Kosovo Serbs in small isolated communities, called enclaves

The International Jury of IFFI 2015 headed by internationally acclaimed Indian film maker Shekhar Kapur, comprised UK based director, Micheal Radford, Palestinian based Israel director, Ms. Suha Arraf, German Actress, Julia Jentsch and South Korean filmmaker Jeon Kyu-Hwan.

Lifetime Achievement Award

The Russian film maker, actor and head of Russian Cinematographers’ Union Nikita Mikhalkov was conferred upon the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 46^th International Film Festival of India. Mikhalkov trained as an actor at the Shchukin School and studied direction under Mikhail Romm. At Home Among Strangers (1974) was his first feature, while he garnered international recognition with ‘A Slave of Love’ .Greatly popular for his portrayal of the memorable Sergei in ‘Burnt by the Sun’, Mikhalkov has built up a reputation as an actor's director, winning numerous international awards. IFFI 2015 had a special tribute section of Mikhalkov’s films, screening his masterpieces – ‘Sunstroke’, ‘the Barber of Siberia’ and ‘Burnt by the Sun’. The Lifetime Achievement Award carries a Silver Peacock, certificate, shawl and a scroll along with a cash prize of Rs 10 lakhs (Rs 1 million)

ICFT – UNESCO Fellini Medal

The ICFT – UNESCO Fellini Medal was awarded to Kaushik Ganguly’s ‘Cinemawala’ that focuses on the sad state of single screen cinema halls in West Bengal. In collaboration with International Council for Film, Television and Audiovisual Communication (ICFT), Paris, and UNESCO the UNESCO Fellini Award was presented at IFFI for the first time this year. This medal is given to a film that reflects the socio-cultural ideals promoted by UNESCO.

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Key highlights of the 46th International Film Festival of India

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The 46^th International Film Festival of India, that began in Goa on November 20, draws to close today with a Closing Ceremony paying a musical tribute to the spirit of Cinema and screening of the Closing Film ‘The Clan’ from Argentina.

Following are the key highlights of the 10 day long festival.

· UNESCO Fellini Medal for the first time to be awarded in India at IFFI 2015

The Kingdom of Spain was the focus country of IFFI 2015
Total No of Delegate Registered-7000
International Jury headed by the chairperson, Shekhar Kapur along with UK based director, Micheal Radford, Palestinian based Israel director, Ms. Suha Arraf, German Actress, Julia Jentsch and South Korean filmmaker Jeon Kyu-Hwan.
The 13-member Feature Jury was headed by Chairperson, Aribam Syam Sharma while the 7-member Non-Feature jury was led by Chairperson, Rajendra Janglay.

Total no. of premiers (World, International, Asia and India) during the festival – 120
This year the festival hosted more than 820 film delegates including 540 national and 280 international directors, actors, producers, technicians including Oscar Academy members and Hollywood experts
Total numbers of films received as entries was unprecedented 790 films.
Final selection of films - 182 (Foreign Cinema)
Countries representing – 90
Opening Film- The Man who knew Infinity, Mid Fest Film-The Danish Girl was widely appreciated by media and audience.

Closing Film- El Clan was selected to be screened in the main competition section of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival where director Pablo Trapero won the Silver Lion. The film was selected as the Argentine entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards.

26 Official Oscar Entries besides several big films from Cannes, Berlin, Toronto and Locarno film Festival

47 films in Indian Panorama section (Feature and Non-feature)

New Horizons from North-East- A special retrospective on ace filmmaker Aribam Shyam Sharma and special section on new generation filmmakers from the North-East

This year, out of 15 films in International Competition, 5 films are official Oscar entries from different countries. The list includes Colombia’s ‘El abrazo de la serpiente (Embrace of the Serpent)’ directed by Ciro Guerra, France’s ‘Mustang’ directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Germany’s Oscar entry ‘Im Labyrinth des Schweigens (Labyrinth of Lies)’ directed by Giulio Ricciarelli, Iceland’s Oscar entry ‘Rams’ directed by Grímur Hákonarson and Serbia’s ‘Enclave’ directed by Goran Radovanovic.

Lifetime Achievement Award to Oscar winning Russian filmmaker, actor and head of Russian Cinematographer’s Union, Nikita Mikhalkov for his contributions to world cinema at the 46th International Film Festival of India. The festival also had a special Tribute section on his selective films- Burnt by the Sun, Sunstroke, Barber of Siberia and Oblomob.

Centenary Film Personality Award conferred upon Internationally acclaimed Music composer Illayaraja during the Opening Ceremony

ICFT-UNESCO Seminar on Film and Cultural Diversity was held with participation of Mr. Philippe Queau (France), Mr. Charles Vallerand (Canada), Ms. Sharada Ramanathan (India)

Interactive Meeting with Industry Professionals on Shooting in USA in collaboration with FICCI

Multimedia exhibition on National Film Heritage Mission being organized by DAVP and NFAI

· Special Retrospective on Shashi Kapoor offered glimpses of the work of the legendary actor Shashi Kapoor and screened his 8 films at IFFI 2015. Junoon (1978) will be screened as the opening film of the section followed by New Delhi Times (1986),Utsav (1984), In Custody (Muhafiz) (1993), Kalyug (1981), Deewar (1975), Shakespearwallah (1965) and House holder (1963).

· Three member delegation from the Oscar Academy visited India for the first time to present important master classes.Master Classes by Oscar Academy members and Hollywood experts like Mark Mangini, Milt Shefter, Humphrey Dixon and Nancy Bhishop on varied topics like sound designing, film archive, film editing and casting.

· Eminent National and International film celebrities like Anil Kapoor, Illayaraaja, Sonakshi Sinha, Kabir Khan, Dev Patel, Mark Mangini, Ayushmann Khurrana, Aditi Rao Hydari, Jackie Shroff, Nana Patekar, Sachin Pilgaonkar, Subash Ghai, Shekhar Kapur, Kaushik Ganguly, Edward Pressman, Nikita Mikhalkov, Michael Radford, Julia Jentsch, Suha Arraf, Rajkumar Hirani, Priyadarshan, Vetrimaaran, Madhur Bhandarkar, Anand L Rai, Shyam Benegal, KK Senthil Kumar and Shankar Mahadevan to name a few.

· Featured a special section ‘Restored Classics’ to highlight National Film Heritage Mission (NFHM) - an initiative of National Film Archive of India (NFAI) envisioned by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. The initiative is aimed to protect and preserve the rich and diverse cinematic heritage of the country for future generation.

· First Cut, a specially curated selection of films representing THE FIRST WORK OF THE emerging talent in world cinema. The section featured emerging foreign filmmakers including Brian Perkins (Film - Golden Kingdom, USA), Michael Klette (Film - Solness, Germany) and Piotr Chrzan (Film – Moskvich-My Love, Poland) among others.

· An exclusive section ‘Womenclature of Cinema’ showcased the films by Indian women filmmakers. Included best work of women film makers like Anjali Menon (Manjadikuru), Aparna Sen (36 Chowringhee Lane), Zoya Akhtar (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara) amongst others.

New Media initiatives like live streaming of Press Conferences, Festival Mobile App and other initiatives for instant information, content and updates to guests and delegates.

Despite having so many screenings of movies, the cinema halls were housefull everyday.

Path-breaking Indian directors like Rajkumar Hirani, Madhur Bhandarkar, Shyam Benegal, Vettrimaran, Kaushik Ganguly, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Priyadarshan, Anand L Rai in a special series titled “In Conversation”. The series provided a unique opportunity for audience to interact with their favorite filmmakers and film experts.

The festival showcased a special package on Contemporary Argentinian Cinema. The list of film that screened includes Argentina Zonda, El Cinco, Intimate Witness, Mexican Operation, Rapture and Wild Tales.

Open Forum and daily Press conferences were attended by large audience and media persons.

Closing ceremony to host the delegates from Argentina, Nigeria and Consulate General of Turkey. Opening ceremony was attended by delegates from Spain and Israel.

Live Social Media interactions with national and international celebrities.

Foreign and Indian delegates were delighted with the selection of movies in different sections.

Best of world cinema was showcased to Indian audience and best of Indian cinema were appreciated by international delegates

A.R. Rahman was the Chief Guest of the evening. Noted filmmakers and international celebrities Pablo Ceaser, John D. Bails, Guneet Monga, Michael Ward, Nishith Takia, Ioanna Stais, Young Woo Kim, attended the festival. National Award winning film makers like Bhagirathi, Tapan Biswas, Srijit Mukherji, Kaushik Ganguly along with other Indian cinema stalwarts met their fans and interacted with media and fans.

Creating a benchmark of showcasing exceptional films from world cinema, the screened a stellar line-up of official Oscar entries from 26 countries. These films were the part of global film festivals like Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Busan.