Everything that happened during IFFI 2019 opening ceremony

Accepting his award as the icon of IFFI’s golden jubilee, Rajnikanth said he was “extremely happy to receive this prestigious Special Icon of Golden Jubilee award” and thanked the Indian Government for “honouring him with the award”. He said that he dedicated the award to his directors, producers and “all the technicians who have worked in my films”, but “above all”, he expressed his gratitude to his fans and “Tamil people who have supported me”.

Apart from the two, French actress Isabelle Huppert was given the lifetime achievement award who thanked India for giving this “extraordinary award” to her. IFFI this year will also have a retrospective of the octogenarian British filmmaker Ken Loach. Though Loach was not present for the opening ceremony, he sent a video message.

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In the politically loaded message, Loach mentioned the rise of the political far-right across the world as a major challenges everyone faces today. “Although the details of our lives are different, the concerns are universal… The rise of the political far-right concerns us all; where people are set against each other and divided by the countries we come from, divided by the class we belong to, the economic class, and divided by interests. We have to assert in our country and in your country in every way we can and through films is that what unites us is far bigger than what divides us,” he said.

Ramesh Sippy, N Chandra and PC Sreeram were honoured as legends of Indian cinema. The opening ceremony was marked by several government functionaries being felicitated as well, including Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, and Environment, Forests and Climate Change, and Heavy Industries Prakash Javadekar and Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.

Javadekar thanked all artists during his speech saying that they can have a significant impact on people’s lives. “You have enriched each one of us. You don’t know what you’ve done, but each artist has contributed to make our lives better,” he said.

He added that movies, information technology and music are part of India’s soft power. Cinema, he said, has a lot of impact on people. “A single film can leave a life long impact. It also has the power to change people’s lives,” he said. He stated that Indian films are being liked across the world, “whether you go to China or anywhere else, language is not a limitation”, he said.

Javadekar also said that India is “ready for single window clearance” to assist shooting of films in the country from “Goa to Leh, Ladakh to the Andamans”.

Inside IFFI 2019 opening ceremony

He mentioned that there is a movie being screened at IFFI made by Goan artists about the visually challenged. He said that there will now be “a narration of movies and an app has been prepared” for it, adding that the government is “asking the entire film industry to have such narrations for movies will not cost a lot but will give a 360-degree narration to the blind”.

Sawant said that Goans love their “food, football and films”. He mentioned that former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had made Goa the permanent home of IFFI as the state’s chief minister. He added that “films are a preliminary source of entertainment” but he added, “they are also the mirror of our times”. A commemorative postage stamp was also released for IFFI’s 50th edition.

The ceremony was hosted by filmmaker Karan Johar, also a member of the IFFI steering committee. The evening was held together by performances by Shankar Mahadevan and jazz musician Louis Banks, among others.

Others who were also called upon the stage included the international jury members headed by John Bailey, and the cast and crew of the opening movie Despite The Fog by Goran Paskaljevic. The ceremony was held at the Syama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium in Panjim.