In a press conference on Tuesday, the poster of 47th International Film Festival of India was unveiled. The festival will take place in Goa from November 20-28. This year none of the Pakistani film will be screened.
Directorate of Film Festivals Senthil Rajan told IANS:
We are not screening any Pakistani film this year. We had received two entries from Pakistan, but our film committee felt those films were not up to the mark. We received over 1000 entries from 102 countries,
He further added:
I don’t know the name of the two films that were sent, but they were not shortlisted.
In 2007, “Khuda Kay Liye” was the first Pakistani film, which was screened at the 38th edition of IFFI.
Speaking at the press conference, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said that there is “heavy competition” between films.
As many as 1032 film entries came. The films that have been selected, you will come to know as and when they will be exhibited,
IFFI, which earlier used to take place from November 20-30, has been shortened by two days this year. Talking about the same, Union Minister of Goa for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said:
One is always experimenting with the film festival to try and make it as attractive and possible. And we have delegates coming from across the globe. We want them to get the best of cinema in the least amount of time. Therefore, from 10 days we have now reduced it to eight days. There is no reduction in content. The best films are all going to be showcased”.
Late Polish director Andrzej Wajda’s “After Images” – a biopic based on the life of late Polish painter Wladyslaw Strzeminski, will kick off the festival. And “The Age of Shadows” by South Korean filmmaker Kim Jee-Woon will bring down the curtains on the festival.
