IFFI 2023 Goa: All You Need To Know About 54th International Film Festival Of India

The 54th edition of the International Film Festival of India will commence on November 20 in Goa. IFFI will begin with a gala opening ceremony, inaugurated by Union Minister Anurag Thakur at Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium in Panaji.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the minister will felicitate the filmmakers and cast of the opening film at INOX Complex. Anurag Thakur will also inaugurate the Film Bazaar on the sidelines of IFFI 54.

The Film Bazaar is South Asia’s largest global film market organised by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) alongside IFFI every year, supporting and showcasing South Asian content and talent in filmmaking, production and distribution.

It also facilitates the promotion of world cinema in the South Asian region.

The nine-day film festival, showcasing an eclectic array of world cinema to audiences worldwide, will kick-start with the international premiere of Catching Dust, by award-winning British filmmaker Stuart Gatt.

The Opening Ceremony will showcase performances by Bollywood superstars Madhuri Dixit and Shahid Kapoor. Bollywood stars Shriya Saran, Nushratt Bharucha, Pankaj Tripathi, Shantanu Moitra, Shreya Ghoshal and Sukhwinder Singh will also perform in the opening ceremony.

The Festival would be graced by eminent personalities from the film industry Catherine Zeta-Jones, Salman Khan, Vidya Balan, Ayushmann Khurrana, Anupam Kher, Vicky Kaushal, Siddharth Malhotra, Aditi Rao Hydari, AR Rahman, Amit Trivedi, among other celebrated actors, singers and filmmakers.

Madhuri Dixit, who was bestowed with the Indian Film Personality honour at IFFI last year, will perform on a medley of her chartbuster songs.

"Cinema has given me so much, it’s time to give something back in return. What better way to do so than through song and dance which is integral to not just Indian cinema, but Indian culture as well," the actor said.

Shahid said he is looking forward to performing for the live audience.

“Doing great work comes naturally when you're passionate about what you do. And performing in front of a live audience is something I’ve truly loved ever since I can remember… Thanks to IFFI I get to do that one more time in Goa on November 20th," he said.

The opening ceremony will be telecast LIVE on Doordarshan. Viacom Media Pvt. Ltd. is the exclusive media and broadcasting partner of the opening and closing ceremonies for the second consecutive year and would broadcast them on the COLORS channel and OTT platform JioCinema.

The event will start at 5 pm.

As many as 270 movies would be screened during the 54th edition of IFFI which will be inaugurated on November 20.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that 198 international films would be screened at the event of which 13 would be premiered. Sawant said there were 20 entries of Goan films for the IFFI of which seven were selected for screening by a jury.

American film 'The Featherweight' will be the closing title, whereas Turkish film 'About Dry Grasses' will be the midfest movie.

This year, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting announced the addition of a new award category to the film extravaganza that will be presented to a web series for its 'artistic merit, storytelling excellence, technical prowess and overall impact'.

A total of 32 entries across 10 languages from 15 OTT platforms have been selected for the inaugural Best Web Series award. The winning series will receive a certificate and a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh.

Fifteen titles are vying for the Golden Peacock award, given to the best film award winner which will receive Rs 40 lakh as cash prize.

Hollywood star Michael Douglas, who will be honoured with the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award at IFFI, will also sit down for a masterclass session.

Click here to check the full list of movies.

(With PTI inputs)