The ninth edition of the Pune International Film Festival threw up some unprecedented numbers . Over 200 films from 42 countries were showcased across 11 screens at eight select venues around the city. The event commemorated 50 years of the creation of Maharashtra state and of the release of the epic historical,Mughal-e-Azam ,as well as the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. The array of regional and international movies movies were watched by around 9,000 delegates. As the week-long film fest drew to a close on Thursday,PIFF director Jabbar Patel said,This festival was something special. The average age of this years audience was 21. We must applaud the spirit of the youth in the city.The ceremony began with a performance by well-known percussionist Vijay Chauhan and group. In attendance were special invitee Fauzia Khan,minister of state of culture of Maharashtra,Mayor,Mohan Singh Rajpal,Consulate General of Canada Benoit-John Bernard,actor Mohan Agashe and award-winning director Girish Kassaravalli. Patel announced that PIFF would be sending a sample of 40 films screened here as a package to the first Yashwant International Film Festival,to be held in Mumbai this month. He also announced the opening of an Indian Cinema section at PIFF,from next year. The prize money will be equal to that of World Cinema (Rs 10 lakh). The Prabhat award for the best international film was won by Dooman River (South Korea/France),and the best international film director award was won by Borys Lankosz for The Reverse (Poland). Javier Bardem,last years best actor awardee at Festival de Cannes,won the best actor award at PIFF for his film Biutiful (Spain/Mexico). Baboo Band Baaja won the Sant Tukaram award for being the best Marathi film. Formic ,the animation movie from Filmakademie,Germany,was awarded the best animation film (international),while the Indian award was won by Paranoia ,made by Thakur Toonskool Advanced Animation Academy.
