54th International Film Festival of India introduces OTT awards

New Delhi: For the first time OTT Awards have been introduced at the 54th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) to be held in Goa from November 20 to 28, 2023.

In all 32 Entries in 10 languages from 15 OTT Platforms for the Best Web Series Award have been received and the winner will be awarded an amount of ten lakh rupees, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said today. He 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.

The OTT Awards are aimed at acknowledging, encouraging and honouring, the flourishing content and its creators of OTT platforms.

“In response to the dynamic landscape of this sector, growth of which stands at 28% annually, the Ministry has introduced this award celebrating the outstanding content creators on OTT platforms,” he said.

The opening film of the festival will be a film from the United Kingdom, Catching Dust, a thriller which is directed by Stuart Gatt with a cast including eminent international actors, Erin Moriarty, Jai Courtney, Dina Shihabi, Ryan Corr, José Altit, Gary Fannin and Olwen Fouéré. Stuart Gatt is an award-winning British filmmaker of mixed Asian heritage whose stories are often influenced by topical social themes.

About Dry Grasses, a Turkish drama directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan will be the ‘Mid-fest Film’. This film was also in the competition section of the Cannes Film Festival this year and its actress Merve Dizdar was presented the Best Actress award for her performance in this film.

The Featherweight will be the ‘Closing Film’ at IFFI. Directed by Robert Kolodny of the United States, it is a 2023 American biographical sports drama that unravels the mythmaking and the fiction of modern stardom through the biopic of a star athlete, meticulously conceived in the classic “Cinéma verité” (truthful cinema) style.

Hollywood actor and producer  Michael Douglas will receive Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award for ‘Excellence in World Cinema’, at the festival. With over 50 years in the film and television industry, Douglas has received 2 Oscars, 5 Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and countless other honours. In 2023, he received the Palme d’Or for lifetime achievement at the 76th Festival de Cannes. He is known for his iconic roles, from his Academy Award-winning performance as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street to critically acclaimed films like Fatal Attraction, The American President, Basic Instinct, Traffic, and Romancing the Stone. As a producer, his works include films like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The China Syndrome.

Thakur said more than 270 films will be showcased during the festival at four venues – INOX Panjim (4), Maquinez Palace(1), INOX Porvorim(4), and Z Square Samrat Ashok (2). The ‘International section’ of the 54^th IFFI will have 198 films, and will have 13 World Premiers, 18 International Premiers, 62 Asia Premiers and 89 India Premiers.

This year IFFI received a record number of 2926 entries from 105 countries, which is 3 times more international submissions than last year, the Minister informed. He said the ‘Indian Panorama’ section will showcase 25 feature films and 20 non-feature films from India. Opening Film in the feature section is a Malayalam film, Aattam, and in the non-feature section is Andro Dreams from Manipur.

Moreover, 19 award-winning films from various prestigious international film festivals this year, have been assorted in the IFFI Kaleidoscope.

A ‘Docu-Montage Section’ has also been introduced at the 54th IFFI, featuring a mosaic of compelling documentaries from around the world. Besides the festival this time has also introduced a ‘Restored Classics Section’ featuring 7 world premieres of the world class restorations done by NFDC-NFAI under the National Film Heritage Mission (NFHM) from the damaged celluloid reels of the Indian Classics –

• • Vidyapati (1937) Bengali Director: Debaki Bose
  • Shyamchi Aai (1953), Marathi, Director: P.K. Atre
  • Patala Bhairavi (1951), Telugu, Director: K.V. Reddy
  • Guide (1965), Hindi, Director: Vijay Anand
  • Haqeeqat (1964), Hindi, Director: Chetan Anand
  • Chorus (1974) Bengali, Director: Mrinal Sen
  • Bees Saal Baad (1962), Hindi, Director: Biren Nag

Further, there will also be three international restored films showcased in this section including an extended director’s cut of The Exorcist from Venice and Sergei Parajanov’s Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors.

Thakur said that ranked 5th largest market globally, India’s media and entertainment industry is a force to reckon with. He added that this market is growing every year with an average annual growth of 20% in the last three years. The movies made in India have covered every corner of the country and are now reaching the distant corners of the world.

– global bihari bureau