46th International Film Festival of India inaugurated by Arun Jaitley
While delivering his address at the inaugural ceremony he said that, Film Festivals world over had acquired a global niche by identifying themselves with their geographical location. Citing the examples of Cannes, Berlin and other prestigious film festivals he said that it is customary to make such locations the permanent centres of such festivals where creativity excels.
Governor of Goa Mridula Sinha, Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Chief Minister of Goa Laxmikant Parsekar, Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Secretary I&B Sunil Arora and Anil Kapoor were also present on the occasion.
During his inaugural address Jaitley said that International Film festival gave filmmakers a chance to interact with fellow filmmakers and provided opportunities to showcase the best domestic and international talent. He said that there could not be a better opportunity than a Film Festival to celebrate the excellence of cinema.
The Minster also mentioned that there would be many new initiatives this year at IFFI-2015 such as a special section on ‘World Cinema Restored Classics’ to highlight the idea of film restoration, master classes with eminent Academy members, a special “ICFT- UNESCO Fellini Prize and Talkathons.
Chief Minister of Goa, Laxmikant Parsekar in his address said that Indian Cinema produced in National and Regional languages represented India’s unity in diversity and IFFI had developed itself into a respectable Film Festival in Asia.
In his address, the Chief Guest for the function, Anil Kapoor said that International Film Festival had aimed and showcased the excellence in global cinema.
Also speaking on the occasion, Secretary I&B, Sunil Arora said that IFFI had been instrumental in promoting world-class films to a wide spectrum of audience surpassing the geographical boundaries and creating a benchmark of quality and consistency. IFFI 2015 would bring a mélange of brilliant films in different languages and genres.
He also mentioned that nearly 7000 delegates would be participating in the Festival this year.
Arun Jaitley along with the Chief Guest Anil Kapoor conferred the Centenary Award for Indian Personality of the Year on Ilaiyaraaja for his outstanding contribution to the music industry.
The Union Finance Minister Jailey along with actress Sonakshi Sinha also launched the book on DadaSahab Phalke Award winners published by Publications Division, a media unit of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.
The 11 day festival would showcase 187 films from 89 countries in World Cinema section along with 26 Feature and 21 Non-Feature films in Indian Panorama section. The opening film at IFFI 2015 was ‘The Man Who Knew Infinity’ by Matthew Brown.
In the Indian Panorama section Priyamanasam and Goonga Pehelwan would be the opening films in the Feature and Non Feature Films category respectively.
