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“Cinema connects civilisations”

PANAJI: The 39th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2008 commenced here on Saturday amid tight security, with the local authorities for the first time putting in place CCTV surveillance. More than 50 cameras were installed at strategic locations.

As the 11-day festival showing around 200 Indian and foreign films from 12 countries was inaugurated by veteran actor Rekha, two companies of Central paramilitary forces, besides local police stood on alert.

Goa Governor S.S. Siddhu, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Anand Sharma attended the opening ceremony, compered by actor Amrita Rao.

Mr. Sharma highlighted the role of Indian cinema in connecting with the masses. ‘Cinema connects civilisations, continents and cultures,’ he said, hailing it for stemming divisive tendencies in the country.

Ms. Rekha called it “the best film festival in the world,” even referring to Goa as “a home away from home and a future home” for her.

Earlier, S.M. Khan, the director of the festival, held extensive parleys with the local authorities making sure that impregnable security was in place for top stars, many of whom enjoy a private multi-layered security network. Around 6000 delegates are attending the festival. Top police officials held a closed-door meeting with IFFI organisers to chalk out the security nitty-gritty.

CISF platoons arrived to strengthen the security deployment at the venues. A police control room has been set up at the old GMC building to provide round-the-clock security, while two battalions of the CISF have been deployed too.

A first aid cell, with a 24-hour backup is ready to deal with any emergency. At least 150 armed police personnel guard the venues Kala Academy and Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) Complex along with CID and special branch sleuths.

According to Superintendent of Police (special branch) Atmaram Deshpande, Goa police’s marine police force has also been activated to guard the Mandovi river bank, where the festivities are scheduled to be held later.

“We are not leaving anything to chance,” Superintendent of Police (Security) Tony Fernandes said.

Watched by Peter Chan, chairman of the jury along with jury member Tabu and Goa-born Telugu actor Illian D’Creuz, the festival opened with the screening of The Warlords set in the 1860s, during the Taiping Rebellion. The film was introduced by its director, Chan.

The film from the Islamic Republic of Iran, Song of the Sparrows directed by acclaimed Majid Majidi will be the closing film. Iran is among the countries in focus, the other two being Russia and Switzerland.

Films from Asia, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Africa will compete for the IFFI awards.The competition section will have 15 films from across the world. These include, Song of Sparrows (Iran), My Mother’s Tears (Argentina/Germany), Rupantor (Transformation) (Bangladesh), The Shaft (China), Kanchivaram and Mahasatta (India), The Red Spot (Japan/Germany), Tulpan (Kazakhstan), Pensil (Malaysia), Ploning (Philippines), Akasa Kusum (Sri Lanka), and The Coffin (Thailand).

The two Indian films in the fray are S. Priyadarshan’s Tamil film Kanchivaram and Ramesh Laxman More’s acclaimed Marathi film Mahasatta.

In addition, there will be 47 films (26 feature films and 21 non-feature) in Indian Panorama. Films of veterans Dilip Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, B. Saroja Devi and Tapan Sinha will be presented in Lifetime Classics while there is a separate section on the Mughal monument of love, Taj Mahal. The section Taj Mahal: A Celluloid Journey will screen films based on Taj Mahal – Shiraj (silent film of 1928), Taj Mahal (1963), Taj Mahal (1964) and Taj Mahal (2005).

Mr. Khan stated that a special section at the festival is devoted to commemorate completion of 75 years of the Kannada film industry while the Indian section will have a retrospective of Bimal Roy and L. V. Prasad’s films.

“The Indian Panorama will have 26 feature and 21 non-feature films. A special section will be devoted to screening five internationally acclaimed pre-1950 films, culled out from the treasures of the National Film Archives of India,” Mr. Khan said.

The festival will also have retrospective sections devoted to the films of renowned Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki, American John Landis, Hong Kong’s Wong Kar Wai and offer a special tribute to Niki Karimi of Iran.

Among the popular Hindi movies to be screened will be Aamir Khan’s Taare Zameen Par, A Wednesday and Ashutosh Gowariker’s Jodhaa Akbar.