Here is everything you need to know about the 51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI):

Venue:

In 2004, IFFI venue got permanently shifted to the state of Goa, which will be hosting even the current edition of IFFI. This time, the film festival has adopted the hybrid format, with both virtual and physical experience, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Who is hosting IFFI?

The festival is jointly hosted by the Government of Goa and Directorate of Film Festivals, under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

How many films will be screening at IFFI 2021?

A total of 224 films will be screened including 21 non-feature films and 26 feature films under the Indian Panorama films section. A total of 162 film premieres will take place at the IFFI 2021.

Which film will open IFFI 2021?

Another Round by Thomas Vinterberg will open IFFI 2021 on January 16. This will also mark the film’s India premiere. Another Round was Denmark’s official entry to the Oscars in 2020. Starring Mads Mikkelsen, the Danish comedy-drama revolves around four high school teachers who are out to experiment with the liberating effects of alcohol.

Which film will close IFFI 2021?

The festival will close with the India premiere of Japanese film Wife of a Spy on January 24. Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, the historical drama bagged the Silver Lion for Best Director at Venice International Film Festival.

Other films to be screened at IFFI 2021

Sandeep Kumar’s film Mehrunisa will also have its world premiere as part of 51st IFFI’s online events’ line-up. Starring actors Farrukh Jaffar, Tulika Banerjee, Ankita Dubey and Hussain Saddam, the movie follows an 80-year-old actress, and how she takes on the male-dominated Indian film industry, ending up becoming a leading advocate for women’s rights.
The festival will commemorate Satyajit Ray’s centenary. Around five films of Satyajit Ray will be showcased for the same. These are:

1. Charulata (1964)
2. Ghare Baire (1984)
3. Pather Panchali (1955)
4. Shatranj Ke Khilari (1977)
5. Sonar Kella (1974)

Film sections

Festival Kaleidoscope: 12 foreign films to be screened in the Kaleidoscope section of the movie gala. These include:

1. Night of the Kings by Philippe Lacote (France)
2. Love Affair(s) by Emmanuel Mouret (France)
3. The Big Hit by Emmanuel Courcol (France)
4. Window Boy Would also Like to Have a Submarine by Alex Piperno (Uruguay)
5. Forgotten We’ll Be by Fernando Trueba (Columbia)
6. Haifa Street by Mohanad Hayal (Iraq)
7. We Still Have the Deep Black Night by Gustavo Galvao (Brazil, Germany)
8. Parthenon by Mantas Kvedaravicius (Lithuania)
9. Apples by Christos Nikou (Greece)
10. My Little Sister by Stephanie Chuat and Veronique Reymond (Switzerland)
11. The Death of Cinema and My Father Too by Dani Rosenberg (Israel)
12. Valley Of The Gods by Lech Majewski (Poland)

Golden Peacock Award: As part of its international section, 15 acclaimed films will compete for the Golden Peacock Award. Argentine filmmaker Pablo Cesar will head its international jury panel. Other members of the jury include filmmakers Prasanna Vithanage (Sri Lanka), Abu Bakr Shawky (Austria), Rubaiyat Hossain (Bangladesh) and Priyadarshan (India).

Films competing for the Golden Peacock Award are:

1. The Domain by Tiago Guedes (Portugal)
2. Into The Darkness by Anders Refn (Denmark)
3. February by Kamen Kalev (Bulgaria, France)
4. My Best Part by Nicolas Maury (France)
5. I Never Cry by Piotr Domalewski (Poland, Ireland)
6. La Veronica by Leonardo Medel (Chile)
7. Light For The Youth by Shin Su-won (South Korea)
8. Red Moon Tide by Lois Patiño (Spain)
9. Dream About Sohrab by Ali Ghavitan (Iran)
10. The Dogs Didn’t Sleep Last Night by Ramin Rasouli (Afghanistan, Iran)
11. The Silent Forest by KO Chen-Nien (Taiwan)
12. Bridge by Kripal Kalita (India)
13. A Dog And His Man by Siddharth Tripathy (India)
14. Thaen by Ganesh Vinayakan (India)

In memoriam: A special section will also pay homage to the artistes who passed away in 2020. These include 19 film personalities from India like Rishi Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Khan, Nishikant Kamat and Basu Chatterjee, apart from 9 from across the globe such as Chadwick Boseman and Kirk Douglas.

Which films will be screened in Indian Panorama section?

Feature Films: The feature film jury has picked Saand Ki Aankh by director Tushar Hiranandani to open the Indian Panorama 2021. Asuran (Tamil), Chhichhore (Hindi) and Kappela (Malayalam) are the other three mainstream films set to be screened under this section, that has a total of 20 feature films. Filmmaker John Mathew Matthan is heading this jury, which comprises of twelve members.

Non-Feature Films: Filmmaker Haobam Paban Kumar is heading the non-feature jury. Paanchika directed by Ankit Kothari has been chosen as the opening non-feature film of the Indian Panorama 2021 segment. A total of 20 non-feature films will be screened including Drama Queens, Holy Rights, Khisa, Radha and Shantabai

Which films will be screened in World Panorama section?

The line-up consists of 50 films from across the globe, including 8 from Germany and 6 from France. Movies from America, Italy, Greece and Netherlands are also listed.

What is the country of focus at IFFI 2021?

Bangladesh has been chosen as the focus country this year with an attempt to recognise its cinematic excellence and contributions.

Under this Country in Focus segment, four Bangladeshi films will be showcased. There are:
1. Jibondhuli by Tanvir Mokammel
2. Meghmallar by Zahidur Rahim Anjan
3. Under Construction by Rubaiyat Hossain
4. Sincerely Yours, Dhaka by Nuhash Humayun, Syed Ahmed Shawki, Rahat Rahman Joy, MD Robiul Alam, Golam Kibria Farooki, Mir Mukarram Hossain, Tanvir Ahsan, Mahmudul Islam, Abdullah Al Noor, Krishnendu Chattopadhyay, Syed Saleh Ahmed Sobhan

Which events will be held online?

IFFI is holding its first-ever ‘hybrid’ film festival. Henceforth, few events will he conducted online. These include:

Retrospective Films:

1. Live Flesh, Bad Education and Volver by Pedro Almodóvar (Spain)
2. The Square and Force Majeure by Ruben Östlund (Sweden)

Master classes: Filmmakers Shekhar Kapur, Priyadarshan, Perry Lang, Subhash Ghai and Tanvir Mokammel will hold Masterclasses at the IFFI 2021.

In-conversation Sessions: Renowned stars from the film fraternity like Madhur Bhandarkar, Anjali Menon, Prasoon Joshi, Rahul Rawail, Aditya Dhar, John Mathew Matthan, Vikram Ghosh, Hariharan and others will be a part of this section.

Other online events: Few films from across the world will be screened, apart from Q&A sessions, film appreciation sessions by FTII, and mid fest world premiere of Mehrunisa.

Who will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award?

Oscar-winning Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at IFFI 2021. Storaro has three Academy Awards for Best Cinematography for Apocalypse Now (1979), Reds (1981), and The Last Emperor (1987).

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The festival was earlier scheduled to be held in Goa from November 20-28. Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said in an statement that the festival will be conducted in a hybrid format, which will be both virtual and physical.

The festival will be conducted in a Hybrid format i.e. Virtual & Physical format. All #COVID related protocols will be strictly enforced as per the festivals convened recently in the #InternationalFilmFestival circuit. 2/2

— PIB India (@PIB_India) September 24, 2020

Prakash Javadekar added that the decision to postpone IFFI was arrived at after he discussed the matter with Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. The ministry officials said the decision was taken keeping in mind the Covid-19 situation.

Prakash Javadekar in the statement said, “It has also been jointly decided to hold the festival from January 16 to 24, 2021 at Goa as per the International Film Festival guidelines and protocols. The festival will be conducted in a Hybrid format i.e. Virtual and Physical format.”

The International Film Festival of India is held in Goa every year.

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The total coronavirus cases mounted to 41,13,811, while the death toll climbed to 70,626 with the novel coronavirus virus claiming 1,065 lives in a span of 24 hours in the country, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The COVID-19 case fatality rate due to the coronavirus infection has further declined to 1.72 per cent. There are 8,62,320 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 20.96 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23 and it went past 40 lakh on September 5.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 4,88,31,145 samples have been tested up to September 5 with 10,92,654 samples being tested on Saturday.

Of the 1,065 fresh deaths, 312 are from Maharashtra, 128 from Karnataka, 81 from Uttar Pradesh, 71 from Andhra Pradesh, 69 from Punjab, 61 from Tamil Nadu, 58 from West Bengal, 34 from Bihar, 30 from Madhya Pradesh, 25 from Delhi, 22 from Haryana, 19 from Chhattisgarh, 18 each from Puducherry and Uttarakhand, 15 each from Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand.

Fourteen fatalities have been reported from Rajasthan, 11 from Kerala, nine each from Goa and Telangana, eight from Tripura, seven each from Assam and Odisha, four from Himachal Pradesh while Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Manipur and Meghalaya have registered one fatality each.

Of the total 70,626 deaths, Maharashtra has reported the maximum at 26,276 followed by 7,748 in Tamil Nadu, 6,298 in Karnataka, 4,538 in Delhi, 4,347 in Andhra Pradesh, 3,843 in Uttar Pradesh, 3,510 in West Bengal, 3,091 in Gujarat and 1,808 in Punjab.

So far, 1,543 people have died of COVID-19 in Madhya Pradesh, 1,122 in Rajasthan, 886 in Telangana, 781 in Haryana, 770 in Jammu and Kashmir, 735 in Bihar, 538 in Odisha, 462 in Jharkhand, 356 in Chhattisgarh, 352 in Assam, 337 in Kerala and 330 in Uttarakhand.

Puducherry has registered 298 fatalities, Goa 229, Tripura 144, Chandigarh 69, Himachal Pradesh 54, Andaman and Nicobar Islands 50, Manipur 36, Ladakh 35, Meghalaya 15, Nagaland 10, Arunachal Pradesh eight, Sikkim five and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu two.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that State-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.

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Both Goa and Kerala are better placed in comparison to other states at this point of time as far as the COVID-19 situation is concerned. The ISL team will stay put in a bio-secure environment.

The decision was taken during a meeting between the ISL organsiers Football Sports Development Ltd. (FSDL) and club representatives on Monday.

However, the organisers made this clear that before finalising the states and venues they will take into consideration the medical and logistical aspects, the COVID regulations in various states to create a conducive and healthy environment for all the people involved.

A virtual ISL workshop will be conducted in October. The clubs will be provided with all the details, rules and regulations regarding the event.

Other than Goa and Kerala, Kolkata, northeastern regions like Aizawl, Imphal, Shillong, Guwahati and Gangtok is also shortlisted as probable venues for the coming season.

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