NEW DELHI: Critically acclaimed Hungarian film director Istvan Szabo, American filmmaker and actor Martin Scorsese will be conferred with the first Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award at 52nd edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) to be held in Goa next month.
While Szabo is known for his masterpieces like Mephisto (1981) and Father (1966), Scorsese is one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential directors in film history.
Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur made an announcement in this regard on Friday.
To honour legendary Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray, the Ministry in April announced to organise year-long celebrations across India and abroad to mark his 100th birth anniversary.
To recognise his legacy, the ministry also instituted ‘Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Cinema’ starting this year.
The ministry has made changes in the format of the festival this year.
For the first time ever, IFFI has invited major over-the-top (OTT) players to participate in the festival. The minister has informed that OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Zee5, Voot and Sony Liv are participating this year.
Netflix is organising a three-day virtual masterclass to be held by the Paris-based renowned school of image and arts, Gobelins – School L’image.
It will also organize the India premiere of ‘The Power of the Dog’ by Jane Campion, which is based on the 1967 novel of the same name by Thomas Savage. It has also proposed to organize a special screening of film ‘Dhamaka’, including an introduction of the film by key talent of the film Kartik Aaryan and a preview of Episode 1 of ‘Aranyak’, an upcoming crime thriller series starring Raveena Tandon and Ashutosh Rana.
SonyLiv has proposed a masterclass by Scam-1992 screenplay writer Sumit Purohit and Saurav Dey, moderated by Indranil Chakraborty, Business Head studio Next.
Zee5 has specially curated Breakpoint – the popular Paes & Bhupathi series by Nitesh Tiwari and Ashwini Iyer for IFFI.
Speaking about the development, Thakur said that the trend of watching movies on OTT is on the rise and IFFI is embracing new technology and providing a platform for the industry artists to interact with OTT players.
“India is a land of story tellers; our tales have captured the imagination of the world. India’s wide variety of stories rightly makes us the ‘Content Subcontinent’,” he added.
The nine-day long festival will start on November 20.
The minister further announced that for the first time ever, films from five BRICS nations will be showcased through the BRICS Film Festival alongside IFFI.
The five countries are Brazil, Russia, South Africa, China and India, which are also the focus countries at 52nd IFFI.
Thakur said that ‘The King of all the World’ (El Rey de Todo El Mundo) directed by Carlos Saura will be the Opening Film and this will also be the film’s international premier.
Around 30 films have been shortlisted for screening from prominent international film festivals in the festival kaleidoscope and world panorama section at the event.
One of the attractions of the festival this year will be recognition to 75 ‘creative minds of tomorrow’, which is to mark 75 years celebration of India’s independence –Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
Thakur said that IFFI would provide a platform to young budding talent from across India to connect with mainstream cinema filmmakers and the industry. 75 creative minds (under 35 years) will be invited to interact with industry leaders and attend master classes at the festival.
These youngsters will be selected through a competition for young filmmakers from around the country. The competition aims to provide a platform to 75 young filmmakers, actors, singers, scriptwriters, and others to showcase their talent at a globally recognized event.
The last date to submit applications online is 30th October, 2021. Detailed guidelines along with the application form are available on www.dff.gov.in and www.iffi.org.
Retrospective section will feature renowned Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr.
Retrospective of Russian filmmaker and stage director Andrei Konchalovsky will also be shown.
Retrospective will also comprise of Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner Rajinikanth.
The festival will pay a special tribute to Sir Sean Connery, the first actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond on the big screen.