CHENNAI: Sebastian Schipper’s film Victoria from Germany will be the inaugural film of the 13th Chennai International Film Festival, to be held from January 6 to 13.
Announcing this at a press conference at the Film Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, Festival director Thangaraj said, “Films from 57 countries will be screened in this festival, which will feature a separate competition section for Tamil films. In all, 184 films are scheduled to be screened during this festival.”
Several films recommended for Oscars will be screened in the prestigious event, the main venue for which will be the Woodlands theatre complex. The other venues are Inox (2 screens), Casino, Sathyam cinemas, Russian Centre of Science and Culture and RKV Studios. Red carpet screenings are to be held at Inox theatre from January 7 to 12.
Apart from the competition section for Tamil films in which 12 movies will be screened, the festival will also feature an Indian Panorama
section as part of which 12 films will be screened. Six films will be screened to celebrate 120 years of Buster Keaton and films will be screened in a tribute to director K Balachander and Aachi Manorama, under which seven films are to be screened.
As many as 123 films will be screened in the World cinema category and this will include the Iranian film Taxi by Jafar Panahi, the Romanian film Afrim, the Mexican film Chronic and the Japanese film Journey to the Shore.