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The 36th International Film Festival of India (IFFI)
- 2005 came to a close here today with the screening
of Belgium-France film 'L'Enfant', directed by Jean
Pierre & Luc Dardene. Iranian film 'Iron Island',
directed by Mr. Mohammad Rasoulof bagged the best film
award and won the Golden Peacock and a cash prize of
Rs. Ten lakhs for originality, deep thoughtful narration,
powerful cinematic expression and great creative strength.
The most promising Director award went to Directors
Ms. Vera Eugina Fogwill and Mr. Martin Desalvo for the
Argentinean film 'Kept & Dreamless' (Las Mantenidas
Sin Suenos) with Silver Peacock and a cash prize of
Rs. Five lakhs for unveiling of the feminine universe
with sensitivity and humour in the context of the global
marginalization of people. Film Director Mr. Tom Hooper
won the Special Jury Award for the South African film
'Red Dust' with Silver Peacock and a cash prize of Rs.
Five lakhs for the efficient use of the cinematic language
by the director, who in his first film, has dealt with
great understanding the issue of human rights.
The five-member jury headed by the Latin American
film maker Mr. Miguel Littin included Mr. Alain Corneau
(France), Mr. Saeed Mirza (India), Mr. Faramarz Gharibian
(Iran) and Ms. Sabine Derflinger (Austria) as members.
The Minister of Information & Broadcasting and
Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Priyaranjan Dasmunsi in
his message (read in absentia) said that IFFI is a great
event to harmonise our understanding in the international
film fraternity and shall definitely carry conviction
for more matured, objective and creative film producing
movement with the involvement of technicians, musicians,
artists, producers, script writers and great story writers.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister of Goa,
Shri Pratap Singh Rane said that the Festival had been
a grand success due to the combined efforts of DFF,
participants, delegates, Goa Government and above all
the public of Goa. The message of IFFI has reached every
household in Goa. The Chief Minister said that involvement
of NGOs could be considered in future to make the Festival
more participative in nature. Shri Rane expressed confidence
that with various advantages that Goa offers for the
hosting of IFFI, the Festival would prove to be a match
for its competitors worldwide.
Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting,
Shri S. K. Arora in his remarks said that the Festival
presented the best in the world and Indian cinema. The
cinema at IFFI raised contemporary concerns along with
entertainment. The cross-cultural trend would continue
and enrich the viewers as well as the quality of cinema.
Appreciating the role of film world and film personalities
during IFFI - 05, Shri Arora expressed the hope that
IFFI in Goa would go from strength to strength and achieve
its due place. Director, DFF, Shri Afzal Amanullah thanked
the Goa Government and public for their tremendous response.
Noted film star Shri Mithun Chakraborty who was Guest
of Honour at the closing ceremony said that he always
considered Goa as the most suitable place to hold IFFI.
Earlier, the music of Hindi film 'Zinda' was released
as part of the function. The lead actor of the film
Sanjay Dutt and director Sanjay Gupta were present.
A brief music and dance programme preceded the presentation
of awards.
The 11-day extravaganza, which began on 24th November,
2005 with the screening of Brazilian film 'Olga', directed
by Jayme Monjardim, showed over 300 screenings of 182
films from 35 countries. The Competition Section this
year included films from Africa and Latin America, besides
Asia.
'The Indian Panorama', and 'Retrospectives' of various
countries including Italy, Poland, Africa, Germany,
Portugal, Canada, Egypt, Taiwan and Australia were also
screened. A Retrospective of films of legendary director
Hrishikesh Mukherjee was also screened.
A salient feature of the Festival was all India Premier
of several films including 'Apaharan' directed by Prakash
Jha, 'Blue Umbrella' directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, 'Deewana
Huye Paagal' director Vikram Bhatt, 'Dubai Return' directed
by Aditya Bhattacharya and 'Parzania' directed by Rahul
Dholakia. The Festival paid special tributes to Ismail
Merchant, Sunil Dutt and Gemini Ganesh who passed away
this year.
A large number of people visited the Film Bazaar,
which was set up at the venue IFFI 2005 during the Festival
by the Confederation of Indian Industry and National
Film Development Corporation.
Apart from a vibrant collection of film shows, the
Festival had seminars, Open Fora, Beach Screenings,
Meet the Director programmes and several press conferences
at the state of the art Media Centre. Besides movie
watching, the delegates, tourist and local people enjoyed
the festivities with a series of programmes.
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