Speaking to the media at the press conference Director Festival Shri Shankar Mohan informed that Amitabh Bachchan along with his wife Jaya Bachchan will be the Chief Guest at the opening ceremony while,JeonSoo-il (South Korea)Mohsen Makhmalbaf(Iran)and Polish film maker KrzysztofZanussi would be the Guests of Honour. Actor AnupamKher and RaveenaTandon will compere the programme.The other celebrities to be present include ShekharKapur,SatishKaushik, and RoopaGanguli.ShriRajnikant would be bestowed with Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year. The award was instituted last year to commemorate 100 years of Indian Cinema. Chinese Film maker Wong KarWai would receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. “The President” directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Iran) will be the opening film while the festival will close with “The Grandmaster” by Wong KarWai (China).
China is the focus country for the festival. IFFI 2014 would screen 178 films from 79 countries across different categories which include World Cinema (61 films), Master-strokes (11 films), Festival Kaleidoscope (20 films), Soul of Asia (7 films), Documentaries (6 films), Animated Films (6 films). Besides, Indian Panorama section would include 26 Feature and 15 Non-Feature Films. North-East being the focus region of the festival, IFFI 2014 would be showcasing 7 films from North Eastern part of India. Regional cinema would also be an integral part of the festival.Retrospective sections on Gulzar and JahnuBaruah, Special Homage films on Richard Attenborough, Robin Williams, ZohraSehgal, SuchitraSen, and special tribute to Farooq Sheikh would be other attractions this year. A special section of films that focus on dance, personality based retrospectives, and Masterclasses/workshopswould also form a part of IFFI 2014.
