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Amitabh Bachchan

Cinema on the Beaches at IFFI Goa
25th Nov 2005 09.04 IST
By Agencies

Beach cinema, a Hindi-speaking Astrix, a jury headed by a man who was once a close associate of an assassinated Latin American communist leader, some good films and a few stars are what the Goa International Film Festival of India (IFFI) has to offer this year.

Goan film buffs can watch the films and hear the sound of waves, both at the same time. Bollywood blockbusters are for free at the Carazalem and Colva beaches, away from the sophisticated festival venue, where films like the Amitabh Bachchan -starrer Sarkar (in picture) and Bunty Aur Babli and Saif Ali Khan - Preity Zinta starrer Salaam Namaste will be screened for the local people. After all, like its beaches, the IFFI too is now permanent in Goa.

Famed Chilean filmmaker Miguel Littin sits at the head of the international jury at the 36th IFFI whose competition section this year along with Asian films have been those from Latin America and Africa. Littin, who is known for his films 'The Jackal of Nahueltoro' and 'Letters from Marusia', spent nearly a decade and a half in exile after General Augusto Pinochet, who overthrew President Salvador Allende in 1973, clamped down on those who were close to the communist leader.

The beaches will witness the premiere of the Hindi version of the latest Astrix and Obelix film while the IFFI delegates will watch 'Astrix and Abelix: Mission Cleopatra' in English.

The beach cinema, which will also celebrate 'IFFI at Goa' with live Indian contemporary music, is going to be socially sensitive as well. On 'World AIDS Day' (December 1), the screening will be that of My Brother Nikhil , an Indian film which deals with AIDS in the country.

Music director-singer Shankar Mahadevan will perform the 'Salaam Namaste' concert while Bollywood singer Sonu Nigam and the local Hema Sardesai will take part in the 'Goa Music Day' on the concluding day on December 4 as part of the beach cinema event.

"Beach cinema will come handy to both foreign and domestic tourists who prefer the open air of Goa to enclosed theatres," says Krishna Das, a Keralite who has been living in Panaji for the last 18 years.

The package from France is, of course, the pick of the festival.

The 15 French films are led by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's 'L'enfant' (The Child), the winner of the Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year, Alain Cornaeu's 'Les Mots Bleus' (Words of Blue), Regis Wargnier's French-UK co-production 'Man to Man', which was the opening film at the Berlin Film Festival this year and the new Astrix film.

'L'enfant' deals with the confusion of a thief about his new role as a father after his wife gives birth to a child, 'Les Mots Bleus' is about a deaf-mute six-year-old girl who begins her journey into education while 'Man to Man', which is set in 1870, narrates the story of two Pygmies who are treated by the people as the 'missing link' between apes and the man.

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Amitabh Bachchan
Sarkar
Bunty Aur Babli
Saif Ali Khan
Preity Zinta
Salaam Namaste
My Brother Nikhil
Sonu Nigam