Israel is the focus country at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) this year and the 49th edition of the movie gala will celebrate diversity as it showcases 212 films from over 68 countries.
The festival, to be held from November 20 to 28 in Goa, will screen 10 films in collaboration with the Consulate General of Israel in Mumbai.
The Country of Focus section will kick off with "The Other Story" by Avi Nesher. Under International Competition section, 15 films will be presented out of which three are Indian. Competition section itself represents films produced and co-produced by 22 countries.
The Festival Kaleidoscope section will showcase 20 critically-acclaimed international films that have had major film festival runs with majority of them being multiple award winners.
World Panorama has 67 films especially curated for the festival and the section includes four World Premiers, two International Premiers, 15 Asia Premiers and 60 India Premiers. Interestingly, World Panorama presents 15 films which are Oscar submissions from respective countries.
This year IFFI will celebrate the legacy of Ingmar Bergman through 'Wild at Heart Master in His Craft: Retrospective section of Ingmar Bergman' as 2018 marks the 100-year anniversary of legendary Swedish filmmaker's birth. Besides seven oeuvres by the iconic director, a documentary on Bergman titled Bergman Island will also be screened. The official opening of this section is scheduled on November 21 with panel discussion followed by the screening of Wild Strawberries.
The opening film of IFFI is The Aspern Papers. The period drama will have its World Premiere at the festival and its star cast Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Joely Richardson, Julia Robins, Morgane Polanski, Nicolas Hau and director Julien Landais will be present.
Israeli actor Alon Aboutboul will be a special guest for Country of Focus section. The Indo-Israeli Co-production Seminar is slated to be held on November 22. Dan Wolman from Israel will be honoured with Life Time Achievement award.
Jharkhand has been selected as the State of Focus for this year's edition and films such as A Death in the Gunj, Ranchi Diaries and Begum Jaan with among others will be screened under the segment. John Irvin, Adrian Sitaru, Polish director Robert Glinski, Anna Ferraioli Ravel and director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra are part of the International Competition jury.
Twenty six feature and 21 non-feature Indian films are selected by the jury to be screened as part of Indian Panorama section. Olu, directed by Shaji N Karun, will open the feature film segment of Indian Panorama 2018 and Aditya Suhas Jambhale-directed Kharvas will kickstart the non-feature film segment of Indian Panorama 2018.
'Homages' section will pay tribute to the film personalities such Shashi Kapoor, Sridevi, M Karunanidhi and Kalpana Lajmi along with international names such as Terence Marsh, Milos Forman, and Anne V Coates.
The legacy of this year's Dadasaheb Phalke Award (posthumous) winner Vinod Khanna will celebrated through his films including Achanak, Lekin and Amar Akbar Anthony. As an extension of the Khelo India Branding, Indian Sports Biopics - such as Mary Kom, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and MSD: The Untold Story - will be screened at the 49th IFFI.
Film personalities like Prasoon Joshi, Dan Wolmar, Sreekar Prasad, Anil Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Jahnvi Kapoor, David Dhawan, Varun Dhawan, Kaushik Ganguly, Shaji Karun, Srijit Mukhrjee, Sridhar and Sreeram Raghvan, Anupama Chopra, Rajiv Masand, Bhawana Somaaya, Jason Hafford, Meghna Gulzar, Leena Yadav and Gauri Shinde will be part of the Masterclasses and In-conversation sections.
