Panaji: Youth and technology are among the main focus areas of the latest edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) currently underway in Goa.
Promoting young talents
Among the programmes at the IFFI which promotes young talents is ‘Creative minds of tomorrow.’ Central Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur personally welcomed the 75 young film directors aged between 18 and 35 years who were selected from 600 entries to take part in the programme. These directors were given the task of making a short film on IFFK within two days.
“During this programme last year, the young woman selected from Tamil Nadu could not initially travel to Goa as her parents were not willing to allow her. However, they later gave her permission to attend the film festival and she returned to Tamil Nadu with a Rs 2-lakh prize for short films,” said the minister amid applause.
VFX & Tech pavilion
A major attraction this year at the Film Bazaar is the VFX & Tech pavilion. India has announced big schemes to attract international post-production work to the country. National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) officials said that around 10-percent of the VFX-animation professionals in the world hail from India.
‘Book to box office’
Yet another unique programme at the IFFI is ‘Book to box office’, where 59 books have been selected for being adapted to film and OTT. Among these books, two have authors belonging to Kerala.
At this programme, publishers are given an opportunity to present their books before big film-OTT production companies based in India as well as abroad for being selected to be made into movies.
Indian Panorama
Meanwhile, ‘Aattam’, a Malayalam movie by Anand Ekarshi, was screened as the inaugural film at the Indian Panorama to a full house. ‘Gandhi Talks’, the lone silent movie at the festival, was also premiered. Actor Vijay Sethupathy attended the premiere show. The film has Sethupathy and Arvind Swamy enacting the main roles.
