International Film Festival of India—major titles to look out for
The 54th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is all set to start on Monday at Goa's Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium. This year, the festival will reportedly play host to 13 world premieres, 62 Asia premieres, 18 international premieres, and 89 India premieres. Britian's Catching Dust has been chosen as the opening film for the prestigious celebration of cinema.
Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones among special guests
American actors and husband-wife Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Salman Khan, Vidya Balan, Vicky Kaushal, Aditi Rao Hydari, Ayushmann Khurrana, and Siddharth Malhotra, and music directors and singers AR Rahman and Amit Trivedi are expected to grace the event. The opening performance will be by Madhuri Dixit, Shahid Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Shreya Ghoshal, Shantanu Moitra, and Sukhwinder Singh, among other Bollywood artists.
'Catching Dust'
Stuart Gatt's Catching Dust is about Geena and her criminal husband Clyde. When Geena decides to leave Clyde due to his "exhausting ways," the arrival of a couple in their neighborhood suddenly changes everything. Gatt's stories are influenced by "topical social themes" and Catching Dust marks his debut feature directorial, says the festival's official booklet. This will be Catching Dust's international premiere.
'About Dry Grasses'
About Dry Grasses will have its India premiere at IFFI and has previously been screened at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival 2023, and Busan International Film Festival 2023, among a few others. The Turkish film zooms in on a teacher who hopes to be transferred to Istanbul after finishing his mandatory duty in a remote village.
'The Featherweight'
Robert Kolodny's The Featherweight is a biographical sports drama film that is based on the life and career of boxer Willie Pep. Pep has been essayed by James Madio. "Painstakingly researched and constructed, the film is a visceral portrait of the discontents of the 20th-century American masculinity, fame, and self-perception." It was earlier screened at the 80th Venice International Film Festival.
'Bela America'
The festival's synopsis describes Bela America as the story of Lucas, a "talented cook" who falls in love with America, a "television star and presidential candidate. He decides to conquer her with his culinary talent." It has been directed by António Ferreira (Gel Fatal) whose "movies captivate common moviegoers as well as travel internationally." He reportedly hails from Coimbra, Portugal.
Indian films at IFFI
A great number of Indian films will also be screened at IFFI. These include Anand Ekarshi's Aattam (Malayalam), Arjun Dutta's Deep Fridge (Bengali), Praveen Arora's Dhai Aakhar (Hindi), Rohit MG Krishnan's Iratta (Malayalam), Jeo Baby's Kathal- The Core (Malayalam), Vishnu Sasi Shankar's Malikappuram (Malayalam), Samyuktha Vijayan's Neela Nira Sooriyan (Tamil), Vetri Maaran's Viduthalai Part 1 (Tamil), and Rahul V Chittella's Gulmohar (Hindi), etc.
