It’s the spring of world cinema on the screen of Inox by the river Mandovi. The 54th International Film Festival begins today in Goa. Union Minister Anurag Thakur will inaugurate the Mela at Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium in the evening. Madhuri Dixit, Shahid Kapoor, Shreya Ghoshal and others will be present at the opening ceremony.
270 films are being screened at the festival across 4 venues, including 13 world premieres. The opening film is ‘Catching Dust’ directed by Stuart Gat. The ‘Indian Panorama’ category has 25 feature films and 20 non-feature films. Malayalam film ‘Attam’ directed by Anand Ekarshi is the opening film at Panorama.
Also in the panorama is ‘Kathal’, directed by Geobaby, starring Mammootty and Jyothika, which will release next week in Kerala. Other films in the panorama are ‘Iratta’, ‘Malikappuram’, ‘Nna Than Case Kod’ and ‘Pookalam’. Jude Anthony’s ‘2018’ will be screened in the mainstream category and Anand Jyoti’s ‘Srirudram’ in non-feature.
This year’s Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Hollywood legendary actor and producer Michael Douglas at the closing ceremony. Michael Douglas, who has won 2 Academy Awards and 5 Golden Globe Awards, is the golden star of the festival. Douglas’ wife and famous actress Catherine Zeta-Jones will also be a guest.
15 films are competing for the Suvarna Mayura for Best Film in the international category. Kannada film Rishabh Shetty’s ‘Kantara’, Sudhamshu Saria’s Sana (Hindi) and Mridul Gupta’s Mirbin are the Indian films in the competition category. The award is Rs 10 lakh for the best OTT web series. 32 entries from 10 languages have been received in the OTT category.
The jury headed by Shekhar Kapur will announce the winners. Eminent personalities like Michael Douglas, Vidyabalan, Rani Mukerji, Vijay Sethupathi, Karanjohar, Madhur Bhandarkar will participate in the sessions. The conclusion is on the 28th.
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