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IFFI: 2 Indian entries in competition section

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The 39th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will open in Goa on November 22, offering a rich fare to the movie buffs and critics alike by putting together about 200 films for screening in various sections from nearly a dozen countries.

Two Indian entries — S. Priyadarshan’s Tamil film “Kanchivaram” and Ramesh Laxman More’s acclaimed Marathi film “Mahasatta” — have been selected in the “competition” section among 13 other films chosen from Bangladesh, Russia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Iran, the Philippines, Argentina, China and Japan. Briefing journalists here on the highlights, S. M. Khan, Director, Film Festival, said on Saturday that a special section in the 11-day festival would be devoted to commemorate completion of 75 years of Kannada film industry.

The Indian section will have a retrospective of Bimal Roy and L. V. Prasad’s films and the festival will mark the premiere of at least six Indian films.

“The Indian Panorama will have 26 feature and 21 non-feature films. A special section will be devoted to screening of five internationally acclaimed pre-1950 films, culled out from the treasures of the National Film Archives of India,” Mr. Khan said.

Among the popular Hindi movies to be screened will be “Taare Zameen Par,” “Wednesday” and “Jodha Akbar.”

While the opening film has not yet been decided, Iranian film maker Majid Majidi’s “The Song of Sparrows” has been selected for screening during the closing ceremony on December 2.

The festival will also have retrospective sections devoted to the films of renowned Finnish film maker Aki Kaurismaki, American John Landis, Hong Kong’s Wong Kar Wai and offer a special tribute to Niki Karimi of Iran.

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