By Ashok Shukla

Panaji, Nov 28 (UNI) The 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will end here on Tuesday evening with closing ceremony taking place at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium in Bambolim.

While popular stars Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif will be special guests, Sidharth Malhotra will perform at the closing ceremony.

Legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan will be honoured with personality of the year award.

Acclaimed Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan will be honoured with the lifetime achievement award. Canada was the focus country this year.

While Pablo Cesar-directed Indo- Argentine film ‘Thinking of Him’ is the closing film, ‘Beyond the Clouds’, directed by Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi, was the opening movie of the festival.

Around 200 films from 82 countries were screened during the nine-day event.

Twenty-six feature films and 16 non-feature films were screened in the Indian Panorama section.

Vinod Kapri-directed Hindi film 'Pihu' was the opening movie in the feature film category, while 'Pushkar Puran' by Kamal Sawroop opened the non-feature film category at IFFI.

Masterclasses by Shekhar Kapur, Subhash Ghai, Bhumi Pednekar, Anand Gandhi, Mukesh Chhabra, Atom Egoyan and Craig Mann were extremely popular among delegates.

Panel discussions by leading film personalities like Karan Johar and Ekta Kapur also drew huge gathering.

IFFI also screened two movies – ‘Hindi Medium’ and ‘Secret Superstar’ for the visually impaired persons with special audio described technology.

Seven award winning films from BRICS countries were also screened at the festival.

To ensure greater participation of local Goan audience, the IFFI had set up a Bioscope Village where non-delegates could watch the movies. The Bioscope village, which was visited by leading film stars, proved to immensely popular among local people and tourists.

A Film Bazaar, which has become the converging point for film buyers and sellers from all over the world, was also organized at IFFI.

The National Film Archives of India (NFAI) had put up an exhibition of cinema posters at the IFFI. The exhibition, entitled ‘’Stree: A Tribute to Womanhood in Indian Cinema’, showcased the transformation of women through the decades as seen through films.

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