IFFI’s Talkathon initiative on Social Media Innovative for Global Connect: Rajyavardhan Rathore

Mr. Wong Kar Wai conferred Lifetime Achievement Award at IFFI-2014

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Shri Rajyavardhan Rathore has said that the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) was an endeavour to understand the various social and cultural ethos through the eyes of cinema. The Festival of films went beyond language, boundaries and connected people with one another. The entire film architecture involving different aspects connected the audience with one another. IFFI-2014 as a platform had succeeded in achieving this objective. The Minister stated this while speaking at the closing ceremony of 45th International Film Festival of India at Panaji, Goa. Highlighting the “Social Media” initiative undertaken at IFFI-2014 in the form of “Talkathon” Shri Rathore said this innovation succeeded in connecting the film lovers from all over the world with the international festival by converging social media tools on one platform i.e. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. This was the first of its kind initiative undertaken by the New Media Wing of the Ministry. It drew huge response from Netizens as they posted their queries/views to the celebrity guests on a real time basis. Shri Rathore also added that the Ministry of I&B was committed in facilitating the growth of the Indian film Industry through policies that established the positioning of India as a ‘Soft Power’, and as a Filming destination. The policy of facilitating co-production agreements/Film markets would be pursued proactively. At the same time, the Government was committed in taking forward the initiative of the National Film Heritage Mission and the Museum of Indian Cinema. The Minister complimented Chinese filmmaker Mr. Wong Kar Wai for winning Lifetime Achievement Award at IFFI-2014. He presented the Award to Mr. Wong Kar Wai along with Shri Ramesh Sippy and Shri Rakesh Om Prakash Mehra. The Russian film ‘Leviathan’ bagged Golden Peacock award for Best Film at the closing ceremony of 45th International Film Festival of India while Israeli director Nadav Lapid bagged the award for Best Director for his film ‘The Kindergarten Teacher’. Special Jury and Centenary Award went to Indian film ‘Ek Hazarachi Note’, directed by Shrihari Sathe. Mr. Dulal Sarkar from India won best Actor (Male) Award for the movie Chotoder Chobi while Mr. Alexel Serebriakov also won Best Actor (Male) award for the movie Leviathan. Ms. Alina Rodriguez from Cuba won Best Actor (Female) for the movie Behavior and Ms. Sarit Larry from Israel won Best Actor (Female) award for the movie The Kindergarten Teacher. Courtesy: pib.nic.in