NT NETWORK
Panaji
The Academy Award winning film directors Istvan Szabo and Martin Scorsese will be honoured with the maiden Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award at the 52nd International Film Festival of India to be held in Goa from November 20 to
November 28.
Coming out with this announcement, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur informed that ‘The King Of All The World’ (El Rey de Todo El Mundo) directed by Carlos Saura will be the opening film of the mega film festival.
“This will also be the film’s international premiere,” he added.
‘The King Of All The World’ is a 2021 Spanish musical film in which the folkloric tradition of the music and dance of Mexico is taken up.
Istvan Szabo is one of the most critically acclaimed Hungarian film directors of the past few decades. He is known for the masterpieces such as ‘Father’ (1966) and ‘Mephisto’ (1981). ‘Mephisto’ was the first Hungarian film to win an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.
Martin Scorsese, known as one of the major figures of the new Hollywood era, had directed masterpieces such as ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976), ‘New York, New York’ (1977), ‘Raging Bull’ (1980), ‘The Departed’ (2006), ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ (2013) and ‘The Irishman’ (2019), among others.
He won the Oscar in the Best Director category for ‘The Departed’.
Both these internationally reputed directors have been invited to receive the award in person. However, so far, there is no confirmation from them. A total of 22 international guests have confirmed their presence.
The seven-decade-old film festival for the first time has invited participation of over-the-top streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, Voot, Zee5, and SonyLIV through exclusive Masterclasses, content launches and previews, curated film package
screenings, and various other ‘on-ground’ as well as virtual events. Netflix will be organising a three-day virtual Masterclass by the Paris-based renowned school of image and arts, Gobelins School L’image. The festival will have India premiere of the Netflix movie, ‘The Power of the Dog’ by Jane Campion, which would be the Mid Fest Film, as well as the special screening of Kartik Aaryan’s film ‘Dhamaka’.
The OTT streaming platform will further present a preview of episode 1 of ‘Aranyak’, an upcoming crime thriller series starring Raveena Tandon and Ashutosh Rana.
SonyLIV is organising a Masterclass by ‘Scam-1992’ screenplay writers, Sumit Purohit and Saurav Dey, while Zee5 has specially curated ‘Breakpoint’, the series on tennis stars Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi by Nitesh Tiwari and Ashwini Iyer Tiwari for IFFI 2021.
Thakur said the trend of watching movies on OTT has been on the rise, and that the IFFI is embracing new technology and providing a platform for the industry artists to interact with OTT players.
Also, for the first time, films from five BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) nations will be showcased through BRICS Film Festival alongside the International Film Festival of India, this year.
Around 30 films have been shortlisted for screening at the 52nd IFFI, from prominent international film festivals in the Festival Kaleidoscope section as well as the World Panorama section.
The jury for the International Competition section at the mega film festival is headed by the Iranian filmmaker Rakhshan Banietemad.
The IFFI 2021 will also pay homage to departed film personalities Dilip Kumar, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Sumitra Bhave, Surekha Sikri, Sanchari Vijay, Bertrand Tavenier, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Claude Carriere, and Christopher Plummer.
The Retrospective section at the mega film festival will feature renowned Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr; Russian filmmaker and stage director Andrei Konchalovsky; and Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner Rajinikanth.
The festival will also pay a special tribute to Sean Connery, the first actor to portray fictional British spy James Bond on the big screen.
Furthermore, the IFFI will provide a platform for the young budding talent across the country to connect with mainstream cinema filmmakers and the industry.
Thakur informed that the ‘75 Creative Minds’ – under 35 years – will be invited to interact with the industry leaders and attend Masterclasses at the festival.
“The youngsters will be selected through the competition for young filmmakers around the country,” he added, pointing out, “In total, 75 youngsters will be selected.”
The last date to submit the online application for the competition is October 31, 2021.
