‘Soul of Asia’ is the theme of 50th IFFI
NEW DELHI: The 50th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will make its 'Asian spirit' as the theme this year, named 'Soul of Asia'. Over 200 best films from 76 countries will be screened. Around 10,000 people and film lovers are expected to participate in the golden jubilee edition in Goa, the government announced here on Wednesday.
In all 26 feature films and 15 non-feature films in the Indian Panorama section will be showcased. It will open with a Kashmiri film 'Nooreh'- explores the mind of a child growing up in strife-ridden Kashmir. And the feature film category will open with National Award-winning film 'Hellaro', by Abhishek Shah. Popular Bengali actor Prosenjit Chatterjee will also be conducting a master class, sources confirmed.
Other Asian films include Chinese films 'Feelings to Tell by Wen LI', 'Summer is the Coldest Season' by Sun Zhou, 'The Fourth Wall' co-directed by Zhang Chong and Bo Zhang. Besides, Japanese film 'Ten Years Japan', Taiwanese film 'Ten Years Taiwan' will also be screened. These are the compilation films which started with the 'Ten Years' series in 2015 and which reflect how young directors from the respective countries envision their immediate surroundings in decades and are a wonderful depiction of the dark times ahead.
'The Other Half ' directed by Lalith Rathnayake from Sri Lanka and 'Wet Season' directed by Anthony Chen coproduced by Singapore and Taiwan are also the part of this section.
"50th IFFI will honor these filmmakers on our platform which serves as the bridge between films and audiences from around the world and open new vistas in terms of cinephilia," a government statement mentioned.
Further, in the Oscar retrospective section, some of the classics-won the best film award at the Academy Awards will be showcased. Films include 'Casablanca' by Michael Curtiz, 'Gone With the Wind' by Victor Fleming, 'Ben Hur' and 'The Best Years of Our Lives' by William Wyler, 'All About Eve' by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 'Lawrence of Arabia' by David Lean, 'The Sound of Music' by Robert Wise, 'The Godfather' by Francis Ford Coppola, 'The Silence of the Lambs' by Jonathan Demme, and 'Forrest Gump' by Robert Zemeckis.
Twelve prominent films in different languages that have completed 50 years in 2019, are also going to be showcased from November 20 to 28 during IFFI'S Golden Jubilee edition this year.