IFFI Director Shankar Mohan said the actor would formally inaugurate the ten-day extravaganza on November 23 at Ravindra Bhavan auditorium in Margao, 40 kms away from here. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni will be the Guest of Honour for the inaugural function, Mohan said, adding the guest for the concluding ceremony is yet to be finalised.
Curtains on the IFFI 2011 will go up this year with screening of the Portuguese film 'The Consul of Bordeaux'. The film was selected as it goes well with the theme of the festival 'the whole world is one family', Mohan said. The 90-minute film, directed by Manuel Gonzales, was selected owing to its unique plot after the preview committee sifted through 500 films to pick up the best.
'The Consul of Bordeaux' is based on the life of Portuguese consul general Aristides de Sousa Mendes in Bordeaux, France, who helped thousands of Jewish refugees to extricate themselves from France, after Hitler's armed forces invaded Belgium and the Netherlands in May 1940. According to Mohan, more than 8,000 delegates from across the globe are participating in the event.
The festival, which was earlier held under the aegis of the Directorate of Film Festival (DFF) has now been de-linked from it, with setting up of a special purpose vehicle - IFFI Directorate--under the Union Information and Broadcasting ministry, which functions as an independent entity.
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