IFFI 2021 to honour Martin Scorsese, Istvan Szabo; screen The Power of Dog, Dhamaka

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur has announced that Istevan Szabo and Martin Scorsese will be conferred the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award at the 52nd International Film Festival of India in Goa.

Szabo is one of the most critically acclaimed Hungarian film directors of the past few decades known for films like Mephisto (1981) Father (1966). Scorsese is one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential directors in film history.

 Speaking during the announcements Thakur remarked “India is a land of storytellers; our tales have captured the imagination of the world. India’s wide variety of stories rightly makes us the ‘Content Subcontinent’.

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 The 52nd edition of IFFI will be be held from 20th to 28th November, 2021 in Goa.  

 The Minister informed that for the first time ever, IFFI has invited major OTT players to participate at the Festival. In a first, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Zee5, Voot and Sony Liv will participate at the Film Festival through exclusive Masterclasses, content launches and previews, curated film package screenings, and various other on-ground and virtual events.  Thakur said that the trend of watching movies on OTT is on the rise and IFFI is embracing new technology and providing a platform for the industry artists to interact with OTT players.

Netflix is organising a 3-day virtual Masterclass by the Paris based renowned school of image and arts, Gobelins – School L’image.  

Netflix will organise the India premiere of The Power of the Dog by Jane Campion. It has also proposed to organise a Special Screening of film Dhamaka, including an introduction of the film by key talent of the film Kartik Aaryanand a preview of Episode 1 of Aranyak, an upcoming crime thriller series starring Raveena Tandon and Ashutosh Rana.

SonyLiv has proposed a Masterclass by Scam-1992 screenplay writer - Sumit Purohit and Saurav Dey, moderated by Indranil Chakraborty, Business Head studio Next.

 Zee5 has specially curated Breakpoint – the popular Paes & Bhupathi series by Nitesh Tiwari & Ashwini Iyer for IFFI.

 Announcing the Opening Film of this edition of IFFI, Thakur said that The King of all the World (El Rey de Todo El Mundo) directed by Carlos Saura will be the Opening Film and this will also be the film’s international premiere. The Power of the Dog directed by Jane Campion, Winner of Best Director at Venice Film Festival will be the Mid Fest Film. Around 30 films have been shortlisted for screening at 52nd IFFI from prominent International Film Festivals in the Festival Kaleidoscope and World Panorama Section.

The 52nd IFFI will pay Homage to Dilip Kumar, Sumitra Bhave, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Sanchari Vijay, Surekha Sikri, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Bertrand Tavenier, Christopher Plummer and Jean-Claude Carrière.Retrospective

The retrospective section in the 52nd IFFI will feature renowned Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr. His films have won accolades at Berlin, Cannes and Locarno Film Festival. He is auteur filmmaker who has created his own visual style.

Retrospective of Russian filmmaker and stage director Andrei Konchalovsky will also be shown. His films have won numerous accolades, including the Cannes Grand Prix Spécial du Jury, a FIPRESCI Award, two Silver Lions, three Golden Eagle Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award.  The section will also comprise of Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner, Rajinikanth.  

The festival will pay a Special Tribute to Sir Sean Connery, the first actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond on the big screen.