Cannes: The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry additional secretary Uday Kumar Varma precided over the India Pavilion conference held on Day 2 of Cannes Film Festival at Village International Riviera to showcase the Indian film and entertainment community and the International Film Festival of India (IFFI, Goa).

The award prizes for IFFI winners will be increased with effect from this year. The prize money for the top award of Golden Peacock has now been increased from Rs 1 million (Rs 10 lakhs) to Rs 4 million (Rs 40 lakhs) and the award for the two Silver Peacock awards has been increased from Rs 500,000 to Rs 1.5 million (Rs 15 lakhs).

Varma said, "We have increased the prize money to attract the attention of film makers and to make IFFI, Goa at par with the best international film festivals across the world."

This year, IFFI is going to held from 22 November to 2 December, 2008.