Shyam Benegal to inaugurate ALIIFF 2015

Indian filmmaker Shyam Benegal will inaugurate the All Lights India International Film Festival (ALIIFF) and Indywood Film Market here on November 15.

This is being jointly hosted by the All Lights Film Society along with the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA)and will be held over five days, where 131 films from 34 countries would be screened across 18 sections.

The event will also host South Asia's biggest film market - Indywood Film Market (IFM).

"FEFKA along with the All Lights Film Society will bring a perfect melange of renowned filmmakers, technicians, actors and other celebrities of international repute from film industries around the world to the event," said Sohan Roy, founder director of ALIIFF-IFM while announcing the event to reporters here on Wednesday.

The festival will also have a section to honour the Golden Jubilee Year of award winning filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan's filmmaking and to commemorate it, ALIIFF will screen 'Master Crafts of Adoor', where two of his films will be screened.

The festival will also pay tribute to late Bollywood filmmaker Yash Chopra, by holding an Indian Retrospection of his movies.

A total of 50 films will compete for the prestigious Golden Frame Awards in the festival under the categories Feature Films, Debut Film Maker's Film, Indywood Panorama, Documentary and Documentary Features and Short Films.

The films will be evaluated by an eminent jury led by Iranian director Khosro Masoumi.

"The objective of Indywood Film Market is to kickstart a dream of making India the biggest and the most powerful film trade in the world. It will also launch the unique concept of film tourism," added Roy, who is a marine engineer by profession and a filmmaker too based in the UAE.

B. Unnikrishnan, festival director and FEFKA office bearer, said that the film industry in Kerala has officially approved ALIIFF-IFM and has extended full support for its success.

"With ALIIFF-IFM, we are planning to showcase the Indian film industry in a big manner to the world, said Unnikrishnan.