MUMBAI: Veteran Indian actors Rekha and Kamal Hassan will be the chief guests of the opening and closing ceremonies, respectively, for the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2008.
IFFI is scheduled to be held in Goa later this month. Also present at IFFI will be the governor of Goa S.S Siddhu; chief minister Digamber Kamath and the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Anand Sharma.
S.M. Khan Addl. D.G. & Director of Film Festivals here today.
Actor Amrita Rao will compere on the inaugural day of IFFI. The other film luminary to join on the occasion as special guest will be Telgu actress of Goan origin Illina D’Cruz.
The competition section will witness the presence of 15 films from across the world. These include My Mother’s Tears (Argentina/Germany), Rupantor (Transfomration) (Bangladesh), The Shaft (China), Kanachivaram and Mahasatta (India), The Song of Sparrows (Iran), The Red Spot (Japan/Germany), Tulpan (Kazakhstan), Pensil (Malaysia), Ploning (Philippines), Akasa Kusum (Sri Lanka), The Coffin (Thailand) amongst others.
Film India Worldwide is another attraction in the cinema of world section, which will showcase films made by Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in collaboration with foreign filmmakers. The entries in this segment are Tandoori Love (Switzerland), Death Without Consent (USA), Barah Aana and Chaurasta-Cross Roads of Love (India). The films of Aki Kaurismaki (Finland), John Landis (USA) and Wong Kar Wai (Hong Kong) will be screened in Foreign Retrospective.
Besides, there will be a special tribute to Niki Karimi and Peter Chan.
In addition, there will be 47 films (26 feature films and 21 non-feature) in the Indian Panorama. Films of Dilip Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, B. Saroja Devi and Tapan Sinha will be presented in Lifetime Classics.
The Festival will also pay homage to GP Sippy, BR Chopra, FC Mehra, Jayashree Gadkar, Raghuvaran, Mahendra Kapoor Jeeva, Sridhar, Vijay Tendulkar and Nabendu Ghosh.
Taj Mahal: A Celluloid Journey will screen films based on Taj Mahal – Shiraj (silent film)- 1928, Shah Jahan –1964, Taj Mahal –1963 and Taj Mahal –2005.
