Panaji (Goa) [India], November 20 (ANI): Chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification, Prasoon Joshi shared details about the International Film Festival of India which kickstarted on November 20 in Goa and said that many new initiatives have been taken this year like the inclusion of OTT and restoration of milestone films.

He said, "This is another special year. A lot of new initiatives have been taken. OTT has been included, which is a welcome initiative. Many milestone films have been restored."The guest list for the event also includes Vijay Sethupathi, Sara Ali Khan, Pankaj Tripathi, Sunny Deol, Karan Johar, Shantanu Moitra, Shreya Ghoshal and Sukhwinder Singh, among others.

According to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting press note, Catching Dust, a thriller by award-winning British filmmaker Stuart Gatt, has been selected as the opening film of the gala. About Dry Grasses directed by French Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan will be the Mid fest film and The Featherweight directed by Robert Kolodny is the closing film for the 54th IFFI.

Filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani will serve as the head of the five-member jury for the best web series (OTT) award at the festival. Divya Dutta, Prosenjit Chatterjee, and filmmakers Krishna DK and Utpal Borpujari are part of the jury panel for the inaugural category. A total of 32 entries across 10 languages from 15 OTT platforms have been selected for the inaugural Best Web Series award. Speaking about the newly introduced OTT awards, Anurag Thakur said that since the COVID-19 pandemic, the OTT industry has seen a boom in India and original content created in India is employing thousands of people. In response to the dynamic landscape of this sector, the growth of which stands at 28 per cent annually, the Ministry has introduced this award celebrating the outstanding content creators on OTT platforms.

Renowned Hollywood actor and producer Michael Douglas will be honoured with the prestigious Satyajit Ray Excellence in Film Lifetime Award. He will also address the IFFI Master Class on November 28.

The Indian Panorama is chosen by a jury of notable film personalities from across India, with a total of 12 jury members for feature films and six jury members for non-feature films, led by the respective chairpersons.

The Feature Film Jury, which consists of 12 members, will be chaired by famous director, actor, and producer TS Nagabharana. It chose Anand Ekarshi's film Aattam (Malayalam) as the opening feature film of the Indian Panorama Section. Noted documentary film director Arvind Sinha presides over the six-member Non-Feature Film Jury.

Indian Panorama section will showcase 25 feature films and 20 non-feature films from India. In the non-feature section is 'Andro Dreams' from Manipur.

From a pool of 239 modern Indian non-feature films, a package of 20 has been chosen for screening in the Indian Panorama segment. The collection of short films shows young and veteran filmmakers' ability to capture, examine, entertain, and reflect modern Indian values.54th IFFI will conclude on November 28. (ANI)