51st IFFI to be organized in Jan 2021 in a ’hybrid manner’: Javadekar

Prakash Javadekar, minister of Information & Broadcasting, said the 51st edition of International Film Festival of India will be organised in a hybrid manner. The event that will take place in Goa, can be witnessed online while the opening and closing ceremonies will be held at the location with a smaller audience.

Speaking at the International Coronavirus Short Film Festival held in Delhi today, Javadekar also said that this edition of IFFI will include participation of 21 non-feature films.

Registrations have opened for the film festival that is scheduled to start on January 16, 2021 up to January 24, 2021. The registrations will be conducted on a first-come-first serve basis to limited number of participants keeping in view the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.

"The IFFI will mark 51st edition this year. The nine-day event will be observed from January 16-24, 2021," Subhash Phal Desai, Vice Chairperson of Entertainment Society of Goa.

This event was earlier scheduled to be held in November, this year but has been pushed to the above dates due to the pandemic.

Javadekar said that the Coronavirus crisis is on its way out and vaccines will be rolled out in the country soon. He also cautioned people to not let their guard down before a second dose of vaccine is administered and antibodied are created.

Further, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, union minister for minority affairs, congratulated Javadekar and the I&B ministry for creating awareness about the Coronavirus and its spread in India. Speaking at the International Coronavirus Short Film Festival, he also congratulated the jury and the organizers of the event for presenting a wide array of short films.

There were 2,800 films participating in the event held today from 108 countries. "The festival witnessing participation of 2,800 films from 108 countries on a single topic is an example of peoples' immense talent," Javadekar said.

With inputs from agencies