Curtains are officially off on 43rd International Film Festival of India to be held at the pristine locations of Goa from the 20th of November, 2012 to the 30th of November, 2012. Announced by the Festival Director of the 43rd International Film Festival of India, Shri Shankar Mohan, the current edition promises to be one of the greatest celebrations of the centenary year of Indian cinema. With the galaxy of stars like Akshay Kumar, Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Om Puri, Jackie Shroff, Vinay Pathak, Krzysztof Zanussi, Kim Ki-duk and others, the Opening Ceremony promises to be one of the greatest celebrations of the centenary year of Indian Cinema.

The ten day cinematic extravaganza which promises to be a showcase of the glorious hundred years of Indian cinema will look back at the magic of Indian cinema in a never seen before avatar. By bringing a showcase of the best of Indian and World cinema incorporating hand-picked movies which reflect the best of cinematic culture from around the world, the 43rd edition of the marquee festival aims to re-introduce cine lovers to exemplary movies which have redefined the cinematic universe as we know today.

Over the period of eleven days including the Opening and Closing ceremony, the 43rd IFFI will be witness to a galaxy of stars who will grace the monumental occasion with their presence. While the opening festival will see popular Bollywood star Akshay Kumar as the Chief Guest, the cultural celebrations will bring together ace Bollywood Choreographer Saroj Khan, much appreciated Bollywood singer Kailash Kher, international repute actors Irrfan Khan and Tabu along with a bevy of stars on a singular podium. As a part of the international presence, the cine lovers will be treated to the company of renowned Polish Director Krzysztof Zanussi who will be conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award, Kim Ki-duk, Michael Winterbottom, Susanne Bier amongst others.

While the festival will see presence of many national, international and regional cine stars and stalwarts, it will also be a platform for the showcase of world renowned films and a melting pot of varied cultures. Over the duration of the festival, cine lovers will be treated to movies of various socio-cultural conditions and will be privy to exclusive premiers and showcases of marquee movies.

At the festival one can look forward to the international premier of Ang Lee’s much anticipated 3D Film ‘Life of Pi’, and can be the witness of Kim Ki-duk’s much awaited movie ‘Pieta’. Apart from showcasing cinema of varied cultures of the world, the festival will also bring together stalwarts like Nitin Desai, Resul Pookutty, Debabrata Pain, Shyam Benegal, Avy Kaufman, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and David Womark taking Master Classes which will provide the audience with an opportunity of interacting with the masters themselves and learn the nuances of filmmaking. As a first of its kind initiative, Canon will do a technical workshop to increase knowledge about the nuances of filmmaking.

In the 43rd edition of IFFI, over a hundred movies will be screened as a part of the Indian Cinema and the World Cinema segments. The Indian Section will bring to the audience movies from across the country in the Indian Panorama (Feature and Non-Feature Section) which is selected by a core jury headed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta for the Feature and M R Rajan for the Non-Feature section. The Indian Panorama will screen twenty feature films with ‘Baandhon’ director by Jahnu Barua as the Opening film, and nineteen films in the non-feature section with ‘Celluloid Man’ directed by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur as the Opening film.

Apart from the Indian Panorama, the Indian section will bring to the audience varied films in different sections like ‘100 Years of Indian Cinema-A Celebration (Feature & Non-Feature)’ showcasing choice of movies from the glorious hundred years of Indian cinema, ‘FTII: Young at 50’ which will showcase films from Film and Television Institute of India’s glorious fifty years, Retrospective of Soumitra Chatterjee, Special Tribute to Girish Kasaravalli and Muzaffar Ali, Vintage: A Tribute to Masters showcasing works of Mrinal Sen, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shyam Benegal, D Ramanaidu and K Balachander; Homages to Yash Chopra, Dev Anand, Rajesh Khanna, Navodaya Appachan, T Damodaran, Ashok Mehta, Rajen Kothari, AK Hangal, Dara Singh, Joy Mukherjee, Dinesh Thakur and Ravi Shankar Sharma; along with a showcase of Students’ Package and a package of movies celebrating Incredible India.

While the Indian section will showcase movies which will reflect Indian cultural diversity, the International section will be a showcase of cinema from varied cultures from across the world. In the international section, the centerpiece segment will be the International Competition section which bringing in fifteen movies from all across the world will be adjudged by a core selection jury headed by Goutam Ghose which will have noted cinema personalities like Anamaria Marinca, Derek Malcolm, Lech Majewski and Dr. Malani Fonseka as members.

Also, as a celebration of the centenary of feature films in India, the 43rd IFFI has introduced a special Indian Cinema Centenary Award which will be bestowed to a film chosen from three nominations from the festival programme – International Competition, Cinema of the World and the Indian Panorama. A specially constituted jury which will have Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Goutam Ghose and Kishwar Desai, will adjudge the nominations, wherein the winner will be awarded a cash prize of Rs. 10,00,000, Silver Peacock and a Certificate.

Apart from the International Competition, the cine lovers at the 43rd IFFI will be treated to a varied line-up of world cinema which will be showcased in sections like ‘Cinema of the World’ which will have a showcase of fifty-one films from forty-two countries with Ang Lee’s 3D film ‘Life of Pi’ as its Opening Film and Mira Nair’s ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ as its Closing Film. Other sections in the International section include ‘A Cut Above’, ‘Masterstrokes’, ‘Festival Kaleidoscope’, ‘Turkish Currents’, ‘Sketches on Screen’, ‘Retrospective: Susanne Bier’, ‘Special Tribute: Ashok Amritraj’, ‘In Focus: Kim Ki-duk’, ‘Soul of Asia’, ‘Documentaries’ and ‘Homages’.

Shri Shankar Mohan, Festival Director, International Film Festival of India quotes, “The 43rd edition of IFFI is significant as we are celebrating the centenary of Indian Cinema and is a monumental moment for us as it is exactly sixty years since the first International Film Festival of India was hosted in 1952. Several events have been planned that will be a part of the celebrations. This year, our endeavour at IFFI is to bring some of the finest films from across the world to the Indian audiences. Keeping this in mind, this year’s festival brings a greater selection of Indian and International films than ever before.”

For this edition, the multi-award winning Art Director and Production Designer Nitin Desai, is designing the festival’s overall creatives. Well known for his keen sense of colour and design which has been showcased in award winning films like ‘Devdas’, ‘Jodha Akbar’, ‘The Legend of Bhagat Singh’, ‘Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar’ and ‘1942-A Love Story’, Nitin Desai will incorporate elements from Indian cinema’s hundred years journey and will showcase a rich cultural element which the Indian cinema is known the world over for. Also, Shaji N Karun has designed the IFFI Signature Film titled ‘Dances of Peacock’ which is an attempt to set the festive mood and invoke creative spirits inherent in the centenary year celebration of Indian Cinema.