National award winning films to be screened from tomorrow

Marathi film 'Deool' will be the opening feature film while the 'Red building where the sun sets' is the non-opening feature film at the National Film Festival to be held at the Siri Fort Auditorium.

'The Dirty Picture', the 'A'-rated film which won Vidya Balan the Best Actress Natioanl award, is also a part of the festival package which includes 24 feature films and 21 non-feature films.

The festival would be inaugurated by veteran filmmaker and critic Vijaya Mulay in the presence of Directors of opening films Umesh Kulkarni (Deeol) and Revathy (Red building where the sun sets).

Rajiv Kumar Jain, Director at the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) said that the entry for viewers would be free but seats would be given on a first come first serve basis.

"The films would be screened in three time slots daily - 10:30 AM, 2 PM and 5:30 PM. All the films have been subtitled in English," Jain said.

He added that for 'The Dirty Picture' and three other films which had been rated 'A' by the Censor Board, only adults would be allowed entry.

Jain also said that unlike earlier years, there was a time gap of nearly a month between the declaration of the National film awards and their screening as the DFF wanted to publicise the award winning films.

While the screenings of these films had been stretched over several weekends in previous years, this time it has been decided that the festival would be summed up in ten days.

Jain said he was aware of reports of another organisation handing over an award named after film icon Dada Saheb Phalke, in whose name the Government honours the cinema greats for their lifetime contribution, but at present no decision had been taken in this regard.