NEW DELHI: The Government aims to establish the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) as the one-stop destination for content creation, filmmaking and shooting, said Union minister for information and broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur on Sunday.
“We want to establish this (IFFI) as a platform where eminent filmmakers, directors, and artists of the country and the world get an opportunity to showcase their films. We want to make India a global content hub, be it for content creation, co-production, filmmaking or shooting,” said the minister while interacting with media persons ahead of the opening ceremony of the festival in Goa.
The I&B minister declared megastar Chiranjeevi the Film Personality of the Year. The Telugu film veteran was last seen in the blockbuster hit “Godfather”. Film personalities including Ajay Devgn, Kartik Aaryan, Pankaj Tripathi, Manoj Bajpayee, Suniel Shetty, Varun Dhawan, and Sara Ali Khan were in attendance at the opening ceremony of 53rd edition of the nine-day festival. The festival runs till November 28. The five-day film market aims at showcasing South Asian content and talent in filmmaking, production and distribution for collaborations.
“As we celebrate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, our plan is to develop India as the most sought-after destination for filmmakers, co-production, post-production and a larger marketplace of the world. India has all the capabilities and possibilities with trained and skilled manpower. Also, the way technology is being used in India, now we have the power to make the regional content international,” Thakur said.
For the first time, the Market Area will include pavilions for countries, states as well as private organisations. States participating in the market include Bihar, Punjab, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Russia and France will also have a major presence at Film Bazaar.
Conducted jointly by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), the 53rd IFFI will feature retrospectives on Dadasaheb Phalke awardee Asha Parekh and Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura, who will be honoured with the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement award at the opening ceremony. Around 280 films from 79 countries will be screened.