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The International Film Festivals aim at providing a common platform to film-makers and cine-goers to witness the internationally acclaimed films, to watch new trends and techniques being adopted by different countries leading to a healthy competition for bringing about an improvement in standards of production. Acquainting with historical and cultural traditions of other nations through films the, festivals create deeper awareness and appreciation bringing about a solid base of understanding between different people.

The practice of holding festivals started in Venice in 1932 as part of the city’s traditional international Art Exhibition. The nations represented at this festival were USA, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the USSR. There were no awards. The Venice festival was followed in 1939 by the Cannes International Film Festival of France. In the course of time the film festival assumed increasing importance. The nations which were rebuilding their film industry after the World War saw in festivals a chance for world recognition. As international political alliances were being reconstituted, the festivals provided an opportunity for interaction. Festivals were started in Berlin, Moscow, Karlovy Vary (Czechoslovakia), London, San Francisco and New York City.

In India, the International Film Festival, for the first time, was organised in 1952 in Bombay. It was a non-competitive festival. A special feature of the inaugural function of the festival was the screening of the first film shown in Bombay by Lumiere Brothers in 1896. After running over a fortnight in Bombay the festival moved on to Calcutta, Madras & Delhi as well. The construction of open-air theatres for screening the films was another special feature of the festival. The venue for the second festival held in 1961 which was also non-competitive was New Delhi. The third festival, which happened to be the first competitive festival ever held in India was in 1965 in Delhi. It was graded ‘A’ category by Paris based Federation International De Producers De Films (FIAFP). With this recognition the festival in India came on par with Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Karlovy Vary and Moscow festivals.

Following this recognition, India adopted, at its fifth festival in 1975, a permanent insignia. This comprises a representation of the peacock, India’s national bird, with a

permanent motto of the festival ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakum’ (The whole world is a family). The same year it was decided to hold a non-competitive festival of festival films (Filmotsav) alternating with IFFI. While the Filmotsavs were orgnaised at major film producing centres of India, IFFI was held in New Delhi only.

Venue being the same for all festivals, the fourth and fifth festivals were held from 5-18 December 1969 and 30 December 1974-12 January 1975 respectively. From the sixth festival onwards the period as well as the dates for the festival were fixed as 3-17 January every alternate year. The sixth festival was held in 1977 and silver peacock for best actor, actress and director was awarded for the first time. A film market was also set up for the first time by the IMPEC. Panorama of recent Indian regional features was organised.

The seventh festival held in Delhi in 1979, was of special significance as it was the only competitive and exclusive international film festival organised in the entire third world during 1978-79. (the 1978 Tehran Festival could not be held). For the first time in the history of the Indian Comptitive Film Festivals, the jury was headed by a foreigner, Qusmane – Sembene of Senegal. Another significant aspect was the participation of women. There were two women on the jury (Chantal Akerman – Belgium and Marta Maszaves – Hungary).

In the ninth festival held in 1983 a new section for screeing of 16mm films was added. An important landmark, during the festival was the participation of twenty two third world countries. The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) has become a major forum of third world cinema.

For the first time, the festival held in 1985, tenth in the series, had an international panorama of select short films, documedia, in an effort to create an identity for short films.

In 1986 when Filmotsav’ 86 was held in Calcutta the Festival’s period as well as dates were changed from 3-17 January to 10-24 January.

The Eleventh IFFI held in 1987 gave a breakthrough for commercial cinema, through the introduction of Mainstream section.

The significant change in the 12^th IFFI held in 1989 was that it was made non-competitive following a decision taken in August 1988 by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting that festivals in future will be non-competitive and all festivals would be called International Film Festival of India (IFFI), hence the festival held in Calcutta was called the 21^st IFFI instead of Filmotsav 90.

Another important decision taken in June 1989 was that the IFFI will hence forth be of 10 days duration only. The festival which used to be held from 10-24 January would now be held from 10-20 January. Hence the number of Films in the ‘Cinema of the World’ section which was changed from ‘Information section’ from the 12^th IFFI was reduced though the other sections of the festival remained unaffected.

The 22^nd IFFI was held in Madras. It had a focus on the South Korean cinema. Tributes were paid to the American director Robert Altman. Homage was paid to V. Shantaram, S. Mukherjee, Shankar Nag, Arundhati Devi and Manmohan Krishna. Diamond Jubilee of Indian cinema and Platinum jubilee of Tamil cinema were celebrated during the festival.

The 23^rd IFFI was held in Bangalore. It had a special focus on "Films from Iran". Retrospectives of Italian director Francisco Rosi and Cashier’s cinema was organised. Tributes were paid to Anne Wheeler and King Ampaw. In the Indian section a retrospective of Kannada cinema was organised and homage was paid to R.R. Panthulu, G. Aravindan and Balaraj Sahni.

The 24^th IFFI was held in New Delhi. The festival focussed on the Vietnamese cinema. Retrospectives of Ingrid Bergman, Vittorio De Sica, Kaurismaki brothers and Argos Films were organised. Homage was paid to Kanan Devi and Bhalji Pendharkar.

The 25^th IFFI dedicated to Satyajit Ray was held in Calcutta. The festival had a focus on ‘films from Mongolia’. Homage was paid to Uptal Dutt and Vijay Bhatt. Tributes were paid to Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni Retrospectives of Liti and Fons Rademakers, Ingmar bergman and Greta Garbo were also organised.

The 26^th IFFI was organised at Bombay, the birth place of Indian Cinema. The event marked the centenary of cinema. A special section was devoted to the film heritage. An exhibition on hundred years of cinema was also organised as part of the festival. Retrospectives of Federico Fellini, Zoltan Fabri, Amos Gitai, Miguel Littin, Krystof Kielowski and Elvis Presley were organised. A section was devoted to the works of the Asian women directors and a special retrospective of Marathi cinema was also organised.

The 27the IFFI was again held in New Delhi. After many years the competition was revived on a limited scale. The section on ‘Asian Women Directors’ was made competitive. Retrospectives of Devys Arcaud; Gene Kelly; Marta Meszaros and Nanni Marteli was held. Tributes were paid to Rainer Werner Fassbinder; Zhang Yimon and Louis Malle. The festival also had a focus on ‘Films from Iran’.

The 28^th IFFI was held in Thiruvananthapuram. The festival had a foucs on ‘South Africa’. Retrospectives of the polish director Krzystof Kielowski and the Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf were organised. Homage was paid to the Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni and Tribute was paid to the Chilean director Miguel Littin. In the Indian Section, Homage was paid to P.A. Backer and Smita Patil and Tribute was paid to Tapan Sinha. A special retrospective was devoted to the Malayalm cinema giving a panoramic view of the 70 years of Malayalm cinema. To mark the 50 years of India’s independence, a photo exhibition on the theme of ‘National Integration and Indian Cinema’ was also organised.

The 29^th IFFI was held in New Delhi. The festival focussed on recent African cinema, films from Sarajevo and Iran. Retrospectives of Polish film maker Andrzej Wajda and Carlos Saura were organised. Homage was paid to the Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune. In the Indian section homage was paid to Chetan Anand and Basu Bhatacharya. A cinematic tribute was also paid to fifty years of Indian Independence by screening 10 nationalist classics. Another highlight of the festival was that competition which had been restricted to Asian women directors only, was broadened this year to include male directors as well.

The 30^th IFFI was held in Hyderbad from January 10-20, 1999. The Festival focussed on films from Argentina. Two new sections were introduced in this festival viz. "Visions of India" and "Women in Cinema". Tributes were paid to Sergei Eisen Setein; Theo Angeleopoulos; Hou Hsiao Hsein and Zsolt Kezdi Kovacs. Homage of noted Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosava was also organised and retrospectives of Wajciech Has and Roland Joffe was also organised. In the Indian section tribute was paid to Bharatan and a retrospective of Telugu films was also organised. A highlight of the festival was the institution, of the ‘lifetime achievement award’ which was conferred on the noted film maker Bernardo Bertolucci.

The 31^st IFFI, the first in this millennium is being held in New Delhi from January 10-20, 2000. The festival is being organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in collaboration with the government of Delhi and the Indian film industry. The Festival would basically be non-competitive in nature but there would be a specialised competitive section for the Asian Directors. The festival would be inaugurated at the Siri Fort. Celebrated Bengali artiste Soumitra Chatterjee would be the Chief Guest at the Festival. "Life is to whistle" a Cuban entry by Fernardo Perez would be the inaugural film.

‘Cinema of the world which is the main section of the festival would consist of about 70 films from 40-45 countries. These would include films which have won awards or critical acclaim at major International film festivals. Some important films in this section are :- "The emperor and the assassin" by Chen Kaige; "Juha" by Aki Kaurismaki; "Am I beautiful" by Dorris Dorrie’ "Sunshine" by Istvan Szabo’ "The Lord’s lantern in Budapest" by Miklos Jancso; "Rang-e-Khoda" by Majid Majidi; "The other conquest" by Lee Myung-Se and "The Best Man" by John Newcombe. *

About 15 films from Asian Directors would feature in the Asian Competition Section which would present the latest cinematic trends in Asia.

ii) Most Promising Asian Director - Silver Peacock and a cash prize of

iii) Special Jury Award - Silver Peacock and a cash prize of

The awards would be decided by a 5 member Jury headed by veteran Indian film maker, Mrinal Sen.

Another highlight of the Festival would be the foreign Retrospective / Tribute Section. Retrospectives of Italian film maker Roberto Rosselini and Russian director Karen Shakhnazarov would be held. *

The Festival would focus on ‘Cinema of Australia’ wherein 10 representative films from the country would be screened. In addition, a ‘Perspective on China’ would also be organised in which 6 films from the country would be screened.*

Tributes would be paid to the Cinema Greats Chen Kaige (China); Fernando E. Solanas (Argentina); Bibi Anderson (Sweden) and Abbas Kiarostami (Iran). * Homage would also be paid to Robert Bresson. *

The ‘Indian Panorama’ which showcases the latest in Indian cinema would screen this year, sixteen features and nineteen non-feature films. Some of the important films in this section are :- "Kairee"; "Malli"; "Vanaprastham"; "Paromitar Ek Din"; "Kanooru Heggadithi"; "Samar" and "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam".*

As in the past, twelve popular films would be screened in the Mainstream Section. Some of these are :- "Padayappa" (Tamil); "Pathram" (Malayalam); "Swapna Niye" (Bengali); "Taal" , "Sarfarosh" and "Bibi No. 1 (Hindi) *.

In the Indian Retrospective Section, Homage would be paid to celebrated Bengali film maker, Ritwik Ghatak. His film, "Titas Ekti Nadir Nam" would be screened in this Section. *

A highlight of the Festival would be the Section ‘India and the International Screen’ which would consist of foreign films which celebrate the Indian director, actor along with the native mindset. Prominent films in this section are Ismail Merchaut’s "Room with a view"; Mira Nair’s, "Salam Bombay"; Kruten Patel’s, "ABCD"; Udayan Prasad’s, "My son the fanatic" and Frederic Fougea’s, "Hanuman the monkey god. *

A Film Market would also be organised.

Another attraction of the festival would be the organisation of a seminar :-"Cinema in the new millennium".

Several special exhibitions are being set up during the festival. A special feature is an installation in the main foyer of Siri Fort entitled, "Magic of Cinema".

The ‘Lifetime achievement award’ would be conferred this year on SriLankan film maker Lester James Peries.

The festival would come to a close on January 20, 2000, "The cloud" from Argentina would be the closing film.

A) The India Producer Abroad

B) The India-Director Abroad

1. Waris Hussein - "Sixth Happines"- 1997, UK. 2. lsmail Merchant - "In Custody" - 1993, USA/India

3. Deepa Mehta - "Sam and Me"- 1998 Canada

4. Udayan Prasad - "My Son the Fanatic" - 1997, UK

5. Mira Nair - "Salam Bombay"- 1998,USA/France/UK/India

C) The India Immigrant Experience

1. Kruten Patel - "ABCD" 1999, USA 2. Robin Petdar - "Strom in the Afternoon", USA

3. Emanuelle Crialese - "Once We Were Strangers" 1999. Italy/USA

d) Directors Abroad : Linking with the Subcontinent and with Indian Actors:

3. "Seducing Maurya" - 1999, Canada, Dir: Hunt Hoe

4. "Hanuman And The Monkey God" - 1999, France / India Dir : Frederic Fougea

1. Tulip
2. Slim Pickings
3. Harry's War
4. The Calling

1. The Emperor And The Assassin
2. Farewell My concubine
3. Temptress Moon

1. The Cloud (La Nube)

1. Persona by Ingmar Bergman

1. The Wind Wil Carry Us (Le Vent Nous Emporer)

1. Titas Ekti Nadir Nam

1. Karunam (Malayalam)
2. Kaarvan (Hindi)
3. Kairee (Hindi)
4. Malli (Tamil)
5. Vaanaprastham (Malayalam)
6. Paromitaar Ek Din (Bengali)
7. Kanooru Heggadithi (Kannada)
8. Dr. Baba Saheb Amebedkar (English)
9. Asookh (Bengali)
10. Biswaprakash (Oriya)
11. Pokhi (Assamese)
12. Atmiyo Swajan (Bengali)
13. Saheed Uddham Singh (Punjabi)
14. Janani (Malayalam)
15. Samar (Hindi)
16. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (Hindi)

1. Koihatir Dhulia (Assamese) by Hemanta Das
2. Breathless ( English ) by Sanjay Sahare
3. The Marams (English) by Aribam Svam Sharma
4. Romancing the Stone ( English ) by Samiran Dutta
5. The Sliamin of Perpang (English) by Mainak Trivedi
6. Sheikh China Modlana (English) by V. Packirisamy
7. Kajara Mohabbatwala (Hindi) by Charudutt Acharya
8. Lirpt Akhet (Hindi) by Sudhanshu Mishra
9. Nazar Ka Dhoka (Hindi) by Ms. Batul Malik

10. New Magazine No.370 - Birdman (Hindi) by Shankar Patnaik

11. The-Voices (Hindi) by -Vinayan Kodoth 12. Thimmkka Mathu 284 Makkalu (Kannada) by J. Balaram 13. Education only her future (Music only) by Arun Gongade 14. Status Quo ( Music only ) by Joshy Joseph

15. You who never arrived ( Music only) by Putul Mahmood

16. Kalamandalam Gopi.(.Malayalam ) by Adoor Gopalakrishnan

17. Blind Folded (Tamil ) by S. Sriram 18. Of Confucious, S-spots and toyguns (Eng./ Marathi / Hlndi / Tamil) by Deep

Prakash

1. Padayappa (Tamil)
2. Samara Sinha Reddy (Telugu)
3. Pathram (Malayalam)
4. A.K. 47 (Kannada)
5. Renta Koothrune Kanu (Telugu)
6. Swapna Niye (Bengali)
7. Dai Daitya (Bengali)
8. Khelaghar (Bengali)
9. Taal (Hindi)
10. Biwi No. 1 (Hindi)
11. Sarfarosh (Hindi)
12. Bindhast (Marathi)