Over 160 films from 70 countries await film buffs at IFFI 2012

Over 160 films from over 70 different countries will be screened at the 43rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which rolls out the red carpet along the banks of the beautiful Mandovi river, Tuesday.

Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar will inaugurate the festival Tuesday evening, which is being held in Goa for the ninth time since 2004.

The festival will begin Tuesday with the screening of "The Life of Pi", while the closing film will be "The Reluctant Fundamentalist".

About 12,000 delegates are expected to be arriving in Goa for the festival.

This time round 47 will feature in the Indian premiere section notable of which is the opening Assamese movie, "Baandhon" by director Jhanu Barua. Out of the 47, 26 are feature films and 21 are non-feature films in different Indian languages, officials said.

The IFFI's international competition section too will have 15 films, two of which are in Indian regional languages namely - "Anhey Ghode De Daan" in Punjabi and "Elar Char Adhyay" in Bengali.

The festival's Cinema of the World section will feature 55 films, according to the festival officials, who also said that overall 70 films would be premiered during IFFI.

A separate section has been also crafted to commemorate the 100 of years of Indian cinema and its journey from grainy black and white and silent films to the films of today, in which 27 films across periods and genres will be screened.

The festival, which begins Tuesday, will also have a special homage section dedicated to legendary director Yash Chopra and late superstar Rajesh Khanna, both of whom passed away this year.

International film personalities like Claude Miller, Angelo Theopolous and Tony Scott will also be accorded homage.

Among the celebrities who are expected to attend the festival are Irrfan Khan, Mira Nair, Tabu, Suraj Sharma, Paoli Dam, etc.

Over seven film-screening halls have been commandeered by the IFFI authorities to screen the films.