NEW DELHI: Even as the entries for the third edition of the Delhi International Film Festival (DIFF), to be held in December this year, were called for, one thing which is clear is that versatile showman Subhash Ghai will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Festival.
The Minar-e-Dilli Award is proposed to be presented to Ghazal Maestro Gulam Ali, and Pakistan is expected to be the partner country for the festival to be held from 20-27 December.
DIFF 2014 is an initiative by “The Social Circle, A Society for Cause and - A step toward inclusiveness” to showcase the best of Cinema, Art and Literature from across the globe.
Started in 2012, the advisory board for this festival is headed by Dada Saheb Phalke awardee Adoor Gopalakrishnan. Working closely with him are some of the greats of Indian Cinema including the national award winning directors Tigmanshu Dhulia, Anurag Kashyap and Anooj Kapoor, Mohan Agashe, Manoj Bajpai, Mandira Bedi, Shriram Raghwan, Jimmy Shergill, N. Chandra, Sandeep Marwah, Shailesh Lodha, Yashpal Sharma and Arvind Gaur, apart from Satish Anand from Pakistan.
Now in its third edition, the festival hopes to showcase 200 films from around 45 countries as against 170 in the previous years.
The earlier editions also showcased 100 paintings and sculptures from India. The two editions also had a literature section with 100 NRI poets displaying their work at the venue. The second edition of the festival saw the addition of Fashion, Singing, Band events and Sufi night by Nizami Brothers, thus making DIFF the only festival in the world with so many sections and live events every evening during the seven days of the festival.
The other events during the festival include ‘Band of the Year’ with participation of more than 25 bands from all over India; ‘Singer of the Year’, a tribute to Mohammed Rafi, ‘Face and Designer of the Year’, daily seminars and workshops and book launches on various aspects of cinema, art and literature.
To promote cinema, art and culture, the festival has associated itself with French and Israeli Embassies in New Delhi along with HUNERKADAA, well known Visual Arts and Performance Institute and EVEREADY GROUP, one of the leading film distribution company from Pakistan.
