ESG NEWSDESK, OCT 9, 2006: At the organizing committee meeting chaired by the Honorable Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Honorable Chief Minister of Goa, Shri Pratapsing Rane, Directorate of Film Festivals, Govt of Goa and PIB at the Secretariat for the 37th International Film Festival of India, Goa, 2006, on Oct 9, 2006, a status report was presented by the Directorate of Film Festivals for IFFI 2006. According to the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), the festival offices will be located at Old GMC complex, Campal, while the film festival will be held at INOX and Kala Academy. Public theatres will also be hired for the purpose of public screenings. The festival venues for both the Press and Delegates would the Kala Academy and Inox Multiplex. The inaugural function of the film festival will be held on Nov 23, 2006. FOREIGN SECTION 2006

The objective of the International Film Festival is to showcase a selection of the best of global and Indian cinema, bringing together film industry professionals, film students, film marketing professionals, the media and the general public to promote excellence in cinema and expand business opportunities. IFFI 2006 will present a number of sections, both in Indian and Foreign categories. The festival will present from about 40 countries in the prestigious Cinema of the World (C.O.W) section. This section will present those films that have won awards and acclaim abroad and debut films that have won critical reviews. The highlight of this festival will be the Asian/African/Latin American competition section which will be screened before an International Jury of five members.

The following will comprise the jury:
Chairman:
Rolf De Heer – Award winning director from Australia.
Members:
Vincent Maraval – Producer, co-founder of Wild Bunch, France.
Andrzej Seweryn – Actor, Director from Poland (won International Film Festival awards including Berlin 1980 awards)
Olivier Assayas – Award winning film director from France
Jahnu Barua – Award winning film director from Assam, India.

The Golden Award will be given for the `Best Film’ while the Silver Peacock will be given to the `Most Promising Director.’ A Special Jury award will be given to the director of a film for his individual artistic contribution. This section will consist of a cash prize of Rs 10,00,000 (Golden Peacock), Rs 500,000 (Silver Peacock), and Rs 5000,000 (Silver Peacock), a medal and certificate.

IFFI 2006 has nominated five curators for various sections of the festival:
Ms Malti Sahai (Country Focus), Ms Uma da Cunha (Film India Worldwide), Mrs Deepa Gehlot (Indian Premiers), Sudhir Nandgaonkar (Foreign Retro) and Vijay Singh (Master Classes).

IFFI 2006 will also have a retro of Javier Barden (leading actor from Spain), Retro of Digital Editing (presented by leading film editor Steven B Cohen from Hollywood), Restoration of Films (by M/s Augutuscolor, Italy), Animation and Digital Effects (by UBIK Visual Effects, Italy).

INDIAN PANORAMA 2006
Is a collection of selected feature and non-feature films produced by Indian Filmmakers during August 1, 2005- August 31, 2006. The feature section this year has a maximum of 25 films and non-feature a maximum of 21.

INDIAN RETROSPECTIVES 2006
A retrospective of Late Shri Govindan Aravindan, the renowned Malayalam film maker. A total of five landmark films i.e Thampu, Kanchan Sita, Chidambaram, Vasthuhara and Esthappan will be screened. The section opens with Vasthuhara on Nov 26, 2006.

INDIAN MAINSTREAM SECTION
This section will have 10 best grosser of the past year across all Indian languages mainly from mainstream cinema.

NFDC DOWN THE AGES
A special retrospective of landmark films produced by NFDC will be presented at the festival. The films Agantuk, Jane Bhi Do Yaaron, Gandhi, Mirch Masala, Marupakkam, Mangamma. A special meet-the-director is also part of the retrospective. The section open Nov 25 with the screening of one film each day for six days.

INDIAN PREMIERS
Yatra, directed by Gautam Ghosh has been confirmed as of now.

HOMAGES/TRIBUTES
The festival pays homage to the following great personalities who have passed away:
Hrishikesh Mukherjee, renowned director
Nadira, renowned actress from Hindi cinema
Naushad, renowned music director
Dr Raj Kumar, renowned actor from Kannada cinema
Oduvil Unnikrishnan, renowned actor from Malayalam cinema
P Bhanumati, renowned actress from Telugu and Tamil cinema
Padmini, renowned actress from South India.

Tributes:
Prithviraj Kapoor and Sachin Deb Burman.

OPENING & CLOSING FILMS
VOLVER -- Opening film, Nov 23. Directed by Pedro Almodovar (Spain) starring Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura.
Synopsis: Three generations of women survive the east wind, fire, insanity, superstition and even death by means of goodness, lies and boundless vitality. They are Raimunda, who is married to an unemployed labourer and has a teenage daughter; Sole, her sister, who makes a living as a hairdresser; and the mother of both, who died in a fire along with her husband. This character appears first to her sister and then to Sole, although the people with whom she has some unresolved matters are Raimunda and her neighbour in the village, Agustina.
Winner of Best Screenplay and Best Actress award at the Festival de cannes, 2006.

BABEL – Closing film, Dec 3. Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez (Mexico) starring Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt.
Synopsis: Babel: n. 1. In the Bible, a famous tower built by a united humanity to reach toward heaven, causing God in his anger to make each person involved speak different languages, halting the project and scattering a confused and disconnected people across the planet.
Winner of Best Director Award for Babel at the Festival De Cannes, 2006.