Highlights of 50th edition of IFFI held in Goa 20th-28th Nov 2019

The 50th edition of the International Film Festival of India(IFFI) was held in Goa from November 20-28, 2019. It was organized by Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF), Union ministry of information and broadcasting in collaboration with Govt of Goa. Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and Kollywood actor Rajinikanth together announced the 50th edition of the IFFI open, in presence of Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting(MoIB) Shri Prakash Javadekar and other officials. The festival opened with the Italian film ‘Despite the Fog’ directed by Goran Paskaljevic. The key highlights of the IFFI, one of the oldest film festivals of Asia, are as follows,

• During the inauguration of the festival Rajinikanth was conferred with the 1st ever instituted ‘Icon of Golden Jubilee Award‘ for his outstanding contribution to Indian cinema. French actress Ms. Isabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert was conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
• Tribute to the former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parikar was paid during the opening ceremony by screening a short film depicting his contribution to IFFI.
• Focus country: Russia was the focus country in the 2019 IFFI. 8 Russian films were screened during the festival.
• It is also to be noted that Haryana participated in the IFFI for the first time.

I&B Secretary Amit Khare launched NFAI Calendar 2020:
Secretary of MoIB Shri Amit Khare launched NFAI (National Film Archive of India) calendar 2020. The calendar features 24 rare images of the musical instruments in Indian Cinema.The Calendar is available in two formats, wall and table and can be purchased online at www.nfai.gov.in. President of the Federation of Film Societies of India(FFSI), Kiran Shantaram Chief Secretary, Government of Goa, Shri Parimal Rai and others were present during the launch.

Interactive digital Multi-Media exhibition IFFI@50 launched:
Hi-tech digital, interactive and multimedia exhibition named IFFI@50 was launched during the festival. The exhibition was put up by the Bureau of Outreach and Communication(BO&C) and NFAI at Darya Sangam, near Kala academy, Goa. the exhibition depicts the journey of IFFI over the last 5 decades. NFAI Director Shri Prakash Magdum and Regional Outreach Bureau, Pune Director Shri Santosh Ajmera participated in the event.

• Hi-tech features like Zoetrope (moving picture creative installation), 360 bullet shot, 360-degree immersive experience area, augmented reality experience etc were featured in the exhibition.

ICFT-UNESCO Fellini medal awarded to IFFI:
IFFI was awarded the ICFT-UNESCO Fellini medal 2019. The announcement in this regard was made by Georges Dupont, Director General(DG) of the International Council for Film Television and Audio-visual Communication (ICFT). The award was given for IFFI’s completion of its 50 years.

• IFFI collaborates with the ICFT Paris(France) to present a special ICFT Prize consisting of the UNESCO Gandhi Medal. This medal was issued by UNESCO in 1994 to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The ICFT- UNESCO Gandhi Medal 2019 was conferred to Italian film ‘Rwanda’, directed by Riccardo Salvetti. The award is given to movies that reflect Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals of peace, tolerance and non-violence.

IFFI to focus on legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray next year:
Shri Amit Khare also announced that IFFI 2020 and 2021 which will be the 51st and 52nd edition respectively will be a tribute to legendary filmmaker of India from West Bengal, Satyajit Ray. His centenary celebrations will be observed from 2020.

Awards:

i.The Best Director award was given to Lijo Jose Pellissery for the film ‘Jallikattu’, who won the Silver Peacock Trophy and a cash prize of Rs. 15,00,000.

ii.Golden Peacock: The french movie ‘Particles’, directed by Blaise Harrison bagged the award for Best Film in IFFI 2019. The award comes with the Golden Peacock trophy, certificate and a cash prize amount of Rs. 40,00,000, shared equally between the Director and the Producer.

iii.Usha Jadhav was awarded the Best Actor (Female) for her portrayal of ‘Prabha Mai’, in the Marathi film ‘Mai Ghatt: Crime No, 103/2005’

iv.Seu Jorge won the Best Actor (Male) for his portrayal of Carlos Marighella in the Brazilian movie ‘Marighella. Both Seu & Usha received the Silver Peacock Trophy and a cash Prize of Rs 10,00,000 each.

v.Special Jury award, which carries the Silver Peacock Award and a cash prize of Rs. 15,00,000, was awarded to Pema Tseden for the Chinese movie ‘Balloon’.

vi.Participants:More than 10,000 people and film lovers participated in the golden jubilee edition. 200 films from 76 countries, including 26 feature films, 15 non feature films in Indian panorama section was screened.

vii.Members present: Union Minister for AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa and Homoeopathy) Shri Shripad Naik, Union Minister of State(MoS) for Environment, Forest and Climate Change(EFCC) Shri Babul Supriyo; Secretary of MoIB Shri Amit Khare; Prasar Bharati Chairman Shri Suryaprakash,  Central Board of Film Certification(CBFC) Chairman Shri Prasoon Joshi, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Shri Atul Kumar Tiwari, Festival Director Shri Chaitanya Prasad, and Vice Chairman Entertainment Society of Goa.  Shri Subhash Phal Desai.

Awards:
Various awards were given during the festival. They are as follows,

About Goa:
Capital- Panaji (Executive Branch).
Chief minister- Pramod Sawant.
Official language- Konkani.
Dance forms- Talgadi, Goff, Tonya Mel, Mando, Kunbi dance, Suvari, Dasarawadan, Virabhadra, Gauda jagar, Ranmale, Fugadi, Ghode Modni, Lamp Dance, Morullem, Bhandap, Dhangar Dance, Dekhni and Dhalo.