Accordingly the 16th edition of the Chennai International Film Festival was kicked off in the city on Thursday with an inaugural function held at Kalaivanar Arangam. Reports added the festival will continue for a week until December 20. It is spearheaded by Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation (ICAF), CIFF is an annual event that showcases some of the best National and International films and draws a huge crowd of cinephiles, both young and old from across the state.
Furthermore this year, the festival’s inaugural film was Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters. Accordingly a film that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year, Shoplifters went on to win the Palme d’Or and also the Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Feature Film, in addition to being nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Moreover CIFF is the only International film festival to have a local film competition. Hence this time, a total of 12 Tamil feature films are being played, the winner of which will be selected by a three member jury panel. Reportedly this year, CIFF will also screen a film on sound engineer Rasool Pookutty in addition to 9 short films from MGR Film Institute and the festival is happening in 6 venues across the city Devi Theatre, Devi Bala theatre, Russian Cultural Center, Casino theatre, Anna Theatre, and Tagore Film Centre.
