PANAJI: After a ten-day celebration of outstanding films from the world over, the curtains came down on the 46th edition of the International Film Festival of India.
The scintillating ceremony which had music maestro AR Rahman as the chief guest, witnessed the presence of dignitaries like Governor of Goa Mridula Sinha, Chief Minister of Goa, Lamikant Parsekar, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and film personalities like Chief of Jury and film maker Shekhar Kapur along with other jury members English film director and screenwriter Micheal Radford, German actress Julian Jentsch, Palestine film maker Suha Arraf and South Korea director Jeon Kyu Hwan, actor Shreyas Talpade, actor Mukesh Khanna, actress Divya Dutta among others.
Speaking at the event, Parsekar said that he hoped that the festival would motivate and inspire others to come out with wonderful films too. “The International Film Festival of India has further enhanced the image of the state as a world class film destination and Goa was indebted to IFFI for creating a film culture in the state,” he said. He also stated that the government was in the process of developing and upgrading permanent venue facilities for event which would be completed in the next two years. Chief of Jury, Shekhar Kapur thanked the government of Goa for being a wonderful host for the film festival, stating that all the jury members were impressed with hospitality and respect that directors received here. He also added that deciding on the competition winners was a tough choice indeed. “There is a very fine line between prejudice and judgement and we argued a lot before arriving at our decisions,” he admitted.
Rahman hoped that this festival was the promise of better things to come. “Movies spread culture and help understand the commonality of thought,” he said.
Nikita Mikhalkov, who was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award spoke of his love for India. “India is a very happy country as 40 years ago, my first film festival was in Delhi,” he said, adding the Indian films are very popular in Russia and if Raj Kapoor had wanted to be President of Russia he would have been. “I have come to the conclusion that in our cruel times, it doesn't matter what truth you are trying to tell in movies, it has to be presented with love and I have seen this in Indian movies.”
India's first sand animation artist Rahul Arya presented a mesmerising sand art performance through which he showed Indian cinema pre 50's while the internationally acclaimed Shillong Chamber choir took the audience on a soulful musical journey of Indian cinema from the 60's to present times. Art director Sushant Tari and director Sabu Cyril were also felicitated for their contribution towards the film festival.
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IFFI TAKES A BOW
>> See pg 2
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AND THE AWARDS GO TO ...
Best Actor (Male): Vincent Lindon (Measure of a Man)
Best Actor (Female): Gunes Sensoy, Doga Doguslu, Elit Iscan, Ilayda Akdogan and Tugba Sunguroglu (Mustang)
Special Jury Award: Julia Vargas (Sealed Cargo)
Best Director: Peter Greenaway (Eisenstein in Guanajuato)
Best Film: Embrace of the Serpent (Director “ Ciro Guerra)
Special Mention: Enclave (Director “ Goran Radovanovic)
ICFT-UNESCO Fellini Award: Cinemawalla (Director - Kaushik Ganguly)
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WHAT THEY SAID
* Movies spread culture and help understand the commonality of thought
- AR Rahman
* It doesn't matter what truth you are trying to tell in movies, it has to be presented with love and I have seen this in Indian movies
- Nikita Mikhalkov
* “There is a very fine line between prejudice and judgement and we argued a lot before arriving at our decisions
- Shekhar Kapur
