A Few Highlights of the 11th CIFF, 2013

The 11th Chennai International Film Festival will be held from 12th to 19th December 2013 and it will celebrate 100 years of Indian Cinema. The festival will be inaugurated by the Honorable Minister for Information of the Government of Tamil Nadu and will be graced by Kamal Haasan, Aamir Khan, representatives from various film industry associations and other luminaries.

 

Singer Karthik will be performing along with musician Anil Srinivasan at the inaugural function. Dance recitals of Shobana and Swarnamalya will also mark the inaugural function. 

 

Flash Mob Dances, Zumba by the Beach, Dance and Music performances during the opening and closing events by popular talented artists are also being planned.

 

Mohanlal will make his august presence for the closing day function.

 

Both the inaugural and closing day functions will be held in Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall, Chennai. 

 

The festival screenings will be held in eight screens in total, in five venues namely Woodlands Theatre Complex (2 screens), Inox (2 screens), Abirami Mega Mall (2 Screens), Rani Seethai Hall and Casino Theatre.

 

12 Tamil feature films will compete for the CIFF Award for Best Film (Director & Producer), Second Best Film (Director & Producer) & the Special Jury Award.

 

Producer and director R V Udhaykumar will head the jury and actress/director Sripriya and eminent writer S Ramakrishnan will be jury members who will evaluate Tamil films.

 

‘Youth Icon of the year’ will be a new award instituted this year, which will be in the name of the legend Amitabh Bachchan.

 

In special appreciation of one passionate movie buff attending the festival and participating in the online contest with maximum entries, will be the Film Buff award and this is being given for the fourth consecutive year.

 

163 films from 58 countries will be screened which include films that won awards in Cannes, Berlin and Venice IFFs. Some of them are  

 

The Great Beauty by Paolo Sorrentino from Italy, Omar by Hany Abu-Assad from Palestine, Walesa: Man of Hope by Andrzej Wajda from Poland, Young and Beautiful by Francois Ozon from France, The Hunt by Thomas Vinterberg from Denmark, Like Father Like Son by Hirokazu Koreeda from Japan, Mold (Kuf) by Ali Aydin from Turkey / Germany, Lucia by Pavan Kumar from India, Harmony Lessons by Emir Baigazin from France-Germany-Kazakhstan, The Circle Within by Deniz Çınar from Turkey, A Touch of Sin by Zhangke Jia from China, The Tree and The Swing by Maria Douza from Greece.
 

Films from Iran and Taiwan will compete under Country Focus 

Retrospectives of Goran Paskaljevic (Serbia), Claire Denis (France), István Szabó (Hungary) will be held.       

 

A section on contemporary films from Turkey and also current Indian Panorama films will find its place in the festival.

 

Mr. Goran Paskaljevic and Mr. Bojan Vuk Kosovcevic from Serbia, Ms. Claudia LACOTTE from France, Mr Ali Gazami, Mr Ramtin Lavafi Povr and Majid Barzegar from Iran, Mr. Andrily Khalpakhchi from Kiev, Mr. Maciej Pieprzyca from Poland, Ms. Isabel Munoz from Mexico, Mr. Deniz Cinar from Turkey  will be the foreign dignitaries attending the festival.

 

Chennai Film Forum Discussions - two in Tamil at Rani Seethai Hall & one in English at Woodlands Complex with the participation of film professionals, are slated to happen. This is open for Press and registered delegates.

 

Eye on Films representative from France will address the film industry / aspiring young film makers regarding the key role of Eye on Films in promoting debut feature film directors in various International Film Festivals.

 

Over 8000 passionate film buffs across India and the globe are expected to enjoy this eight day festival. The festival functions will witness active participation from the film fraternity, corporate houses, Consulates/Embassies, prominent Chennaites, press/media, student volunteers and a large number of movie buffs.