Union information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday announced the list of films selected for the upcoming edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI).
The minister took to Twitter to present the selection for the Indian Panorama section. “Happy to announce the selection of 23 feature and 20 non-feature films in Indian Panorama of 51st IFFI (sic),” he tweeted.
Happy to announce the selection of 23 Feature and 20 non-feature films in Indian Panorama of 51st IFFI. @MIB_India pic.twitter.com/Kx0acUZc3N
— Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) December 19, 2020
The IFFI is usually held every November, but owing to the pandemic, the festival's dates were pushed to 16 - 24 January 2021. The opening film for the Panorama section is Saand Ki Aankh (2017), directed by Tushar Hiranandani, while Paanchika by Ankit Kothari will open the non-feature segment.
Other selected feature films include the Bengal films Avijantrik by Subhrajit Mitra and Brahma Janen Gopon Kommoti (2020) by Aritra Mukherjee, the Chhattisgarhi film A Dog and His Man (2019) by Siddharth Tripathy and Govind Nihalani’s Up, Up & Up (2019). The Kannada film Pinki Elli? directed by Prithvi Konaur and the Marathi films Karkhanisanchi Waari directed by Mangesh Joshi and June directed by Vaibhav Khisti and Suhrud Godbole are also part of the panorama selection.
The twelve-member feature film jury is headed by John Mathew Matthan and includes filmmakers Dominic Sangma, Jadumoni Dutta, Rama Vij; journalists Sanghamitra Chaudhuri and Satinder Mohan. The non-feature jury comprises filmmakers Sajin Babu, Atul Gangwar and Mandar Talauliker, and is headed by filmmaker Haobam Paban Kumar.
The Mainstream Cinema section comprises Nitesh Tiwari’s Chhichhore (2019), starring Sushant Singh Rajput, as well as Vetrimaaran’s Tamil feature Asuran (2019) and Muhammad Musthafa’s Malayalam film Kappela (2020). The non-feature films include Ashmita Guha Neogi’s CatDog (2019), Farha Khatun’s Holy Rights (2019), Raj Pritam More’s Khisa (2020) and Sohini Dasgupta’s Drama Queens.
The films have been selected from a total of 183 feature and 143 non-feature entries.