52nd IFFI: Koozhangal, Bittersweet, Godavari selected for Indian Panorama

The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) has announced the selection of films for the Indian Panorama section, which will be screened during its 52nd edition in Panjim, Goa. Organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals of India, Union ministry of information and broadcasting in collaboration with the state government of Goa, the festival is being held in a hybrid format from 20 to 28 November. 

The feature film jury, comprising twelve members, was headed by filmmaker and actor SV Rajendra Singh Babu. A total of 24 feature films have been selected to be screened in the section from a pool of 221 contemporary Indian films, and Aimee Baruah’s Semkhor in the Dimasa language will be the opening feature film of the section.

Other films in the section include Vinothraj PS’s much-acclaimed Tamil language film Koozhangal, which is India’s entry for the 2022 Academy Awards; Ananth Narayan Mahadevan’s Bittersweet; actor Parambrata Chattopadhyay’s Abhijaan; Nikhil Mahajan’s Godavari; and Rajdeep Paul and Sarmistha Maiti’s Kalkokkho. 

Speaking about their film’s selection at IFFI, the director duo of the Bengali language feature Kalkokkho said, “Kalkokkho (House of Time) is a collective baby of all those who are in its process of making. After being recognized worldwide, we have got this immensely prestigious opportunity to showcase it to our own audience at the national level and we must say we are just overjoyed with the news of getting the honour of Indian Panorama in IFFI. The film was made in the times of pandemic, and we are yet not out of it. With so many losses and a heavy heart that we have all undergone, we are very hopeful that the film will leave its timeless fervour on the minds of the larger audience of our country who have lived the similar plight of this dreadful time."

In the non-feature films section of Indian Panorama, a total of 20 films have been chosen by a jury of seven members, headed by documentary filmmaker S Nallamuthu. Rajiv Parkash’s English language film Ved…The Visionary will be the opening non-feature film for the section. 

Other films in the section are Ananth Narayan Mahadevan’s The Knocker, Subhash Sahoo’s Teen Adhyay, Ashok Viswanathan’s Badal Sircar & the Alternative Theatre, Abhijeet Sarthi’s Bable Babylon Se, Sohil Vaidya’s Murmurs of the Jungle and Jackie R Bala’s Santali language film Witch, among others. The films have been selected from a total of 203 contemporary Indian non-feature films.