IFFI to begin today

The all new 35th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is all ready to roll and rumble in its new avatar from today, 29th November, 2005, Monday. New because the government has finally decided to give the festival the much demanded suave and modern look it always needed.

The first step was to shift the venue to hip and happening Goa from New Delhi, where it always used to look over burdened by official apathy. The second change being the catalogue of films to be screened there.

So, if the festival starts with Mira Nair’s much awaited film Vanity Fair, starring Hollywood actress Reese Witherspoon, the thunder could well be stolen by Oliver Stone’s Alexander. Alexander is the most expensive Hollywood movie ever made and it will be screened as the closing film of the festival. More than 200 films will be screened during the 12-day festival.

Organizers are billing the move to stage the event in Goa as the country’s riposte to France’s Cannes film festival. Some 5,000 delegates, special invitees and celebrities to witness the gala event and celebrities are headed for Goa where more than 200 films from Asia, North America and Europe will be screened at the 11-day International Film Festival of India, which ends December 9.

Top Bollywood movie box office draws like Amitabh Bachchan, former Miss World Aishwarya Rai and Shahrukh Khan are set to attend the event while dozens of foreign film lovers are also due to turn up, adding international flavor.