BRICS film festival to start in New Delhi today

The first BRICS film festival will kick start here on Friday in the run up to the BRICS summit, which will be held in Goa next month.

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore will inaugurate the festival.

The five-day festival will act as a platform for people of the film industry of member countries to explore areas of cooperation in the domain of cinema, culture and cuisine.

The I & B Ministry said the idea of organising BRICS film festival originated at the last BRICS Summit, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed a BRICS film festival and film awards.

The ministry said that it is a step taken to build bridges and bring harmony amongst the BRICS countries and the festival will ensure more people to people contact between member countries, especially youth.

During the course of the festival, 20 films are set to be screened. The opening film will be the world premiere of the Malayalam movie, Veeram directed by Jayaraj Rajasekharan Nair starring Kunal Kapoor.

The closing film will be the Chinese movie 'Skiptrace' starring Jackie Chan directed by Renny Harlin.

The festival will also have a competitive section and each member country will nominate four films showcasing creative talent from selected themes.

The festival will celebrate the excellence of cinema by rewarding film makers, actors, producers and directors.

Films will be judged by an eminent jury comprising one noted film maker of each member country.

The jury will give their recommendation for an award, which will include a BRICS Gold Medal and certificate of excellence under several categories.