Brad Pitt has been invited to walk the red carpet at the 37th International Film Festival of India beginning here on November 23.
The state govt invites the Hollywood star currently camping in Pune for IFFI
PANAJI: Brad Pitt, who spent two clandestine weekends in Goa with partner Angelina Jolie last month, has been invited to walk the red carpet at the 37th International Film Festival of India beginning here on November 23? But the big question is, will the Hollywood heartthrob entertain the Goa government’s invitation.
State chief secretary J P Singh said he had written to Pitt, who is currently in Pune with Jolie where the shooting of the film ‘A Mighty Heart’ is in progress. “The closing film of the festival is ‘Babel’ which has Brad Pitt in it,” Singh said. Incidentally, “Babel’ got the best director award at the Cannes festival earlier this year.
This year’s highlight is that celebs will be brought by boat from the Taj Group of hotels at Sinquerim across the River Mandovi to the jetty being readied at Kala Academy. “We are trying to recreate the red carpet to provide photo-ops for celebs,” Singh said. The 15-minute ride across the water will be a blessing instead of the hour-long drive.
The state, which collaborates with the Directorate of Film Festivals of India (DFFI) and the Union I&B Ministry in organising IFFI, finds itself constrained, however. Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane admitted, “We would like to take over the festival completely.”
A bit ambitious considering that it will only be the third year that IFFI is being held here, since Goa became a permanent venue. Besides, the Information ministry has other ideas. When asked about Goa’s wish to go solo, I&B minister PR Das Munshi was non-committal.
While Shashi Kapoor will be the chief guest, actor Sushmita Sen is being approached toprovide the glamour quotient at IFFI inaugurals.
Nandini Paliwal, CEO, Entertainment Society of Goa, promises, “There will be more glamour and entertainment at IFFI this year.” Incidentally one of the jury members Vincent Maraval, co-founder of Wild Bunch, has dropped out.
However, Rolf de Heer of Australia, Olivier Assayas from France and Jahnu Barua, award winning director from Assam will be there.
The festival will open with the Spanish comedy Volver directed by Pedro Almodvar (starring Penelope Cruz) which won the best screenplay and best actress awards at the Festival de Cannes, 2006.
The 11-day festival will showcase films in different categories. In the ‘Competition’ category, there will be films from Asia, Africa and Latin America, In ‘Cinema of the World’ films from 40 countries will be shown.
There will also be films in the ‘Retrospectives, Tributes, Focus,’ ‘Indian Panorama’ and ‘Mainstream Indian Cinema’ category. Homage will also be paid to SD Burman, Prithviraj Kapoor, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Nadira, Padmini and others who have contributed to the growth of Indian cinema.
A special lounge for technical and financial aspects apart from the film bazaar is one of the add-ons this festival, says Palliwal. “We are trying to bring this festival on par with other festivals in the world.”
The best film will win the Golden peacock and a cash prize of Rs10 lakh for its director. The most promising director will get the Silver peacock and a cash prize of Rs5 lakh.
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