Tried to ensure that all parts of the country get deserving representation in Indian Panorama: Himanshu Sekhar Khatua, Jury Member

Goa:21 November 2024: Selecting 20 Indian Films from 384 films was a difficult task and non-selection of the films for this IFFI should not necessarily be considered a statement on the quality of the films, expressed Jury Members for the Feature Films section of Indian Panorama at IFFI 2024. They were speaking at a Press Conference on the sidelines of the 55^th IFFI 2024 today.

While sharing his perspectives on the process of selection for Indian Panorama, Eminent filmmaker Himanshu Sekhar Khatua explained that it was a herculean task for the Jury members since all of them came from different parts of the country and wanted to ensure that all parts of the country get deserving representation. The Panel of 13 Juries deliberated for forty-two days to decide the best twenty-five films in the section. Khatua further said that Goa has become a favorite shooting location and it shows that filmmakers get all the required help while shooting in Goa.

Speaking on the occasion, Jury member, Manoj Joshi said that, the Jury tried to give justice to the talent, films, and creativity coming from all the regions in the country. “We are the primal storytellers of the world. Telling stories is in our blood. And we are the best content-providing country in the world”, Shri Joshi added.

Jury Member Ratnottama Sengupta said that Indian Panorama films at IFFI 2024 manifest the diversity that is India and the diversity that is Indian cinema. She stressed that, though the festival runs for 10 days only, it has in its fold multiple segments showcasing a wide variety and categories of films.

Jury Member Ashuu Trikha said that cinema in itself is a religion and the selection has been done so meticulously and religiously. He further said, that in the area of special effects and the use of digital technology and all such segments Indian cinema is setting new standards and is at par with world standards.

Jury Member Priya Krishnaswamy praised the thematic undercurrents present in Indian cinema today. She said, “It was heartening to see how new filmmakers experiment with the art form and the new cinematic language they bring to the fore. Through the meticulous selection of films, the effort of Jury Members was to showcase upcoming trends in filmmaking and highlight the variety of Indian Cinema to the world.

Sushmita Mukherjee, Oinam Gautam, S.M. Patil, Neelabh Kaul, Sushant Misra, Arun Kumar Bose, and Sameer Hanchate were other Jury members who were present for the press conference. The conference was moderated by Rajith Chandran.

The Indian Panorama, a flagship section of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), has 25 Feature Films and 20 Non-Feature Films to be showcased in the 55th edition of IFFI. The package of 25 Feature Films including 5 films from mainstream cinema has been chosen from a broad spectrum of 384 contemporary Indian feature films. The Jury’s choice for the opening Film of Indian Panorama 2024 is “Swatantrya Veer Savarkar (Hindi)”, directed by Shri Randeep Hooda.