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New Delhi, Nov 19 (ANI): Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee will inaugurate the ten-day long 41st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) slated to begin on November 22 in Goa’s Panaji city.

This year’s festival shall feature important changes. The ‘Competition Section’ has been made open to all feature films from across the world.

Earlier, this section was restricted to feature films from Asia, Asia Pacific, Africa and Latin America. 18 films (15 foreign and three Indian) feature films have been short listed for participation.

Another key change in this year’s festival is the introduction of new awards viz., best actor and best actress under ‘Competition Section’.

The best film would be awarded ‘Golden Peacock’ and given a prize money of Rs.40 lakh, the best director would be awarded ‘Silver Peacock’ and given a prize money of Rs.15 lakh, best actor would be given a ‘Silver Peacock’ and given a prize money of Rs.10 lakh, best actress would be given a silver peacock and given a prize money of Rs.10 lakh, special jury award will be given a ‘Silver Peacock’ and a prize money of Rs.15 lakh.

The Indian panorama shall feature 26 feature films, these include Achin Paakhi, Abohomaan, Maner Manush, Ami Aadu (Bengali), Three Idiots, Wake-up-Sid, Paa (Hindi), Kaal Chilambu (Malayalam), Ravanan (Tamil), Me Sindhuthai Sapkal (Marathi) which is the opening film of the Panorama, Shabari (Kannada), Swamyamsiddha (Odiya).

There will be 21 Non-Feature Films showcased in the Indian Panorama. “Leaving Home” will be the opening film for the Non feature film category.

Another key aspect of the festival will be the commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of the Film and Television Institute of India.

Five non-feature films curated by the institute will be screened. As part of the celebrations of the Platinum Jubilee of Odiya Cinema, five Odiya films will be screened during the festival.

There will also be screening of two films associated with the work of the ‘Dada Saheb Phalke Awardees’ namely V.K. Murti and D. Ramanaidu. Apart from the above, birth centenary of luminaries of Indian Cinema, which include Ashok Kumar, shall be observed with the screening of their films.

As part of the festival, a special screening of India’s Oscar entry ‘Peepli Live’ in the presence of important cast and crewmembers is also scheduled. A key highlight of the festival pertains to the foreign section participation during the festival.

There will be a Cannes Kaledioscope 2010, a comprehensive package of films that made into Cannes this year. The films include ‘Film Socialism’ by Jean Lun Godard.

There will also be a package of ten Iranian films with high aesthetic content to be represented by respective film makers, cast and crew members. Amongst the retrospectives scheduled for prominent film makers, the list includes Jan Jakub Kolski Retrospective, Jim Jarmusch Restrospective, Michael Cacoyannis Retrospective and Mira Nair Retrospective.

The country focus during the festival shall be Sri Lanka, Taiwaenese New Wave Cinema and a section on Australian Indigenous Fiction Films. IFFI would also pay homage to the Iconic French filmmaker, Eric Rohmer, who passed away this year. Six of his films would be screened.

Renowned film producer and director Yash Chopra will be the chief guest of the function. (ANI)