The 51st International Film Festival of India was held from 16 to 24 January 2021 in Goa. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the festival went hybrid, there was physical and virtual screening of 50 films out of 224 films across various categories.[1][2][3] Bangladesh was country of focus in the festival with four films of the country included in 'country of focus' section.[4]
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The festival highlighted autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by premiering a film by Shreedhar, In Our World in non-feature film, Indian Panorama section on 18 January 2021.[1]
The opening and closing ceremonies of the festival were aired live on DD India and DD National channels on 16 January and 24 January 2021, respectively.[5][6]
Being a ‘hybrid’ film festival, a few events are organised online also.
Tribute
Tribute to the celebrated filmmaker Satyajit Ray marking his birth centenary by screening his classic works:[8]
Tribute to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on the occasion of his 125th birth anniversary by screening film:
Online events
- 50 films out of 224 films across various categories are scheduled to be screened online.
- Opening and closing ceremony live telecast
- Q&A sessions
- Film appreciation sessions by Film and Television Institute of India professors: Mazhar Kamran, Madhu Apsara and Pankaj Saxena
- Mid fest world premiere of Mehrunisa[10][11]
Sources:[12][13][14]
International jury
- Pablo César (Argentina), director, producer, writer, actor and editor, Chairman
- Prasanna Vithanage (Sri Lanka), filmmaker
- Abu Bakr Shawky (Austria), writer and director
- Priyadarshan (India), director, screenwriter and producer
- Rubaiyat Hossain (Bangladesh), director, writer and producer
Feature film jury
- John Matthew Matthan, filmmaker, screenwriter and producer, Chairperson
- Dominic Sangma, filmmaker and screenwriter
- Jadumoni Dutta, filmmaker, screenwriter and producer
- Kala Master, choreographer
- Kumar Sohoni, filmmaker and writer
- Rama Vij, actor and producer
- B. Ramamurthy, filmmaker
- Sanghamitra Chaudhuri, filmmaker and journalist
- Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan, filmmaker
- Satinder Mohan, film critic and journalist
- Sudhakar Vasantha, filmmaker and producer
- T Prasanna Kumar, film producer
- U Radhakrishnan, ex-secretary, Federation of Film Societies of India
Non-feature film jury
- Haobam Paban Kumar, feature and documentary filmmaker, Chairperson
- Atul Gangwar, director, screenwriter, and producer
- Jwngdao Bodosa, filmmaker
- Mandar Talauliker, filmmaker
- Sajin Babu, filmmaker
- Satish Pande, producer and director
- Vaijayanti Apte, script writer and producer
Source:[17][20][14]
Opening film
- Another Round (Denmark), by Thomas Vinterberg, it was Denmark's official entry to the Oscars, in 2020.[21]
Mid fest film
- Mehrunisa (Austria), directed by Sandeep Kumar, stars formidable actor Farrukh Jaffar (88). The film revolves around the story that lends wings to a woman's lifelong dream.
Kaleidoscope section
Twelve foreign films were screened in this section.
These include:
- Night of the Kings by Philippe Lacôte (France)
- Love Affair(s) by Emmanuel Mouret (France)
- The Big Hit (Un triomphe) by Emmanuel Courcol (France)
- Window Boy Would also Like to Have a Submarine by Alex Piperno (Uruguay)
- Forgotten We’ll Be by Fernando Trueba (Colombia)
- Haifa Street by Mohanad Hayal (Iraq)
- We Still Have the Deep Black Night by Gustavo Galvao (Brazil, Germany)
- Parthenon by Mantas Kvedaravicius (Lithuania)
- Apples by Christos Nikou (Greece)
- My Little Sister by Stephanie Chuat and Veronique Reymond (Switzerland)
- The Death of Cinema and My Father Too by Dani Rosenberg (Israel)
- Valley of the Gods by Lech Majewski (Poland)
Golden peacock award
In international section, 15 films are competing for the Golden Peacock Award. Argentine filmmaker Pablo Cesar is head of its international jury panel.
The films competing for the Golden Peacock Award are:
- The Domain by Tiago Guedes (Portugal)
- Into The Darkness by Anders Refn (Denmark)†
- February by Kamen Kalev (Bulgaria, France)
- My Best Part by Nicolas Maury (France)
- I Never Cry by Piotr Domalewski (Poland, Ireland)
- La Verónica by Leonardo Medel (Chile)
- Light For The Youth by Shin Su-won (South Korea)
- Red Moon Tide by Lois Patiño (Spain)[22]
- Dream About Sohrab by Ali Ghavitan (Iran)
- The Dogs Didn’t Sleep Last Night by Ramin Rasouli (Afghanistan, Iran)
- The Silent Forest by KO Chen-Nien (Taiwan)
- Bridge by Kripal Kalita (India)
- A Dog and His Man by Siddharth Tripathy (India)[23][24]
- Thaen by Ganesh Vinayakan (India)
† Award winning film
Indian panorama award
- Feature films
- Non feature films
- 100 Years Of Chrysotom - A Biographical Film (English)[30]
- Ahimsa- Gandhi: The Power Of The Powerless (English)[31]
- Catdog (Hindi)
- Drama Queens (English)
- Green Blackberries (Nepali)[32]
- Highways of Life (Manipuri)
- Holy Rights (Hindi)
- In Our World (English)[33]
- Investing Life (English)
- Jaadoo (Hindi)[34]
- Jhat Aayi Basant (Pahari/Hindi)[35]
- Justice Delayed But Delivered (Hindi)[36]
- Khisa (Marathi)
- Oru Paathiraa Swapnam Pole (Malayalam)[37]
- Paanchika (Gujarati)
- Pandhara Chivda (Marathi)[38]
- Radha (Bengali)[39]
- Shantabai (Hindi)
- Still Alive (Marathi)
- The 14th February & Beyond, by Utpal Kalal (English), It's an investigative film on Valentine's Day[40]
In memoriam
A special section in this festival will be organized in honour of the artists who died in the year 2020 to pay homage to them.[41]
World panorama
Source[43]
- Only Human by Igor Ivanov (Macedonia)
- The Lawyer by Romas Zabarauskar (Lithuania)
- Rupsa Nodir Banke by Tanvir Mokammel (Bangladesh)
- Buiten Is Het Feest by Jelle Nesna (Netherlands)
- 3 PUFF by Saman Salour (Andorra)
- The Atlantic City Story by Henry Butash (USA)
- Gesture by Pouya Parsamagham (Iran)
- Zhanym, Ty Ne Poverish by Ernar Nurgaliev (Kazakhstan)
- Running Against The Wind by Jan Philipp Weyl (Germany, Ethiopia)[44]
- Spring Blossom by Suzanne Lindon (France)
- The Audition by Ina Weisse (Germany)
- Moral Order by Mario Barroso (Portugal)
- Unidentified by Bogdan George Apetri (Romania)
- The First Death of Joana by Cristiane Oliveira (Brazil)
- The trouble with Nature by Illum Jacobi (Denmark, France)
- The Castle by Lina LužYtė (Lithuania, Ireland)
- Maternal by Maura Delpero (Italy)
- A Fish Swimming Upside Down by Erliza Pëtkova (Germany)
- Fauna by Nicolás Pereda (Spanish)
- Suk Suk by Ray Yeung (Hong Kong)
- Long Time No See by Pierre Filmon (France)[45]
- Summer Rebels by Martina Sakova (Slovakia)
- In The Dusk by Šarūnas Bartas (Lithuania)
- A Common Crime by Francisco Márquez (Argentina)
- Lola by Laurent Micheli (Belgium, France)
- The Voiceless by Pascal Rabaté (France)
- The Taste of Pho by Mariko Bobrik (Poland, Germany)
- Stardust by Gabriel Range (UK)
- Funny Face by Tim Sutton (USA)
- Naked Animals by Melanie Waelde (Germany)
- Las Niñas by Pilar Palomero (Spain)
- Kala Azar by Janis Rafa (Netherlands, Greece)
- История Одной Картины by Ruslan Magomadov (Russia)
- Paradies by Immanuel Esser (Germany)
- Borderline by Anna Alfieri (UK)
- A Simple Man by Tassos Gerakinis (Greece)
- 180° Rule by Farnoosh Samadi (Iran)
- Here We Are by Nir Bergman (Israel, Italy)
- The Border by Davide David Carrera (Colombia)[46]
- End Of Season by ElmarImanov (Azerbaijan, Germany, Georgia)
- This Is My Desire by Arie Esiri, Chuko Esiri (Nigeria, USA)
- Karnawal by Juan Pablo Felix (Argentina)
- Parents by Eric Bergkraut, Ruth Schweikert (Switzerland)
- The Voice by OgnjenSviličić (Croatia)
- Spiral...Fear Is Everywhere by Kurtis David Harder (Canada)
- Isaac by Angeles Hernandez & David Matamoros (Spain)
- Farewell Amor by Ekwa Msangi (US)
- The Man Who Sold His Skin by Kaouther Ben Hania (Tunisia, France)
- Roland Rabers Cabaret of Death by Roland Reber (Germany)
- Children of the Sun by Prasanna Vithanage (Sri Lanka)
Country in focus
Four Bangladeshi films will be showcased in this section.
- Jibondhuli by Tanvir Mokammel
- Meghmallar by Zahidur Rahim Anjan
- Under Construction by Rubaiyat Hossain
- Sincerely Yours, Dhaka by Tanvir Ahsan, Abdullah Al Noor, Syed Saleh Sobhan Auneem, Krishnendu Chattopadhyay, Golam Kibria Farooki, Mir Mukarram Hossain, Nuhash Humayun, Mahmudul Islam, Rahat Rahman, Robiul Alam Robi, Syed Ahmed Shawki
Goan films
Source[47]
- Shinvar - The Downpour
- Written in the Corners
ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Medal
The IFFI presents ICFT Prize consisting of the UNESCO Gandhi Medal in collaboration with International Council for Film, Television and Audiovisual Communication (ICFT) Paris.
- 200 Meters by Ameen Nayfeh (Italy, Sweden, Jordan, Palestine, Qatar)
- An Old Lady by Lim Sun-ae (South Korea)[48]
- Berlin Alexanderplatz by Burhan Qurbani (Germany, Netherlands)
- The Lamp of Truth by Thanesh Gopal (Canada)
- Palmyra by Ivan Bolotnikov (Russia)
- Prawaas by Shashank Udapurkar (India)
- Red Soil by Farid Bentouumi (Belgium, France)
- Summertime by Carlos López Estrada (USA)
- Thahira by Siddik Paravoor (India)
- Unsound by Ian Watson (Australia)
Debut director
- Gold For Dogs by Anna Cazenave Cambet (France)
- Otto the Barbarian by Ruxandra Maria Ghițescu (Belgium, Romania)
- Ravine by Balázs Krasznahorkai (Hungary)
- Valentina by Cássio Pereira dos Santos (Brazil)[49]
- Wildfire by Cathy Brady (Ireland, UK)
"Mehrunisa". Sandeep Kumar Films. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
