Shillong, Oct. 18: National Award winning Khasi film Ri — Homeland of Uncertainty will be one of the 26 feature films to be screened at the 45th International Film Festival of India 2014 in Goa next month.
The film, directed by filmmaker Pradip Kurbah, and the 25 other feature films were picked by a jury chaired by filmmaker A.K. Bir from a list of 181 eligible entries. The 13-member jury took 23 days to finalise the selection.
Fifteen non-feature films will also be screened at the festival. The jury for the non-feature film category was chaired by filmmaker Mike Pandey. There were 100 eligible entries in this category. The seven-member jury took 11 days to select the films.
Elizabeth Ekadashi, a Marathi film, directed by Paresh Mokashi has been chosen as the opening film in the feature film category while The Last Adieu, an English film, directed by Shabnam Sukhdev will be the opening film in the non-feature film category. Assamese film Othello directed by Hemanta Kumar Das is among the 26 feature films while A Dream Never Dies directed by Aneisha Sharma is among the 15 non-feature films.
The selected films were announced today by the Indian Panorama 2014. The 45th IFFI will be held in Goa from November 20-30. Since 1952, India has hosted 44 International Film Festivals, both competitive and non-competitive. These festivals became annual events from 1975.
In May, Ri bagged the Best Khasi Film (Rajat Kamal) under the category of best feature film in each of the language specified other than those in the Eighth Schedule at the 61st National Film Awards for 2013. The citation of the award read: “A complex tale of insurgency and reconciliation set in the turbulent northeastern state of Meghalaya”.
Ri revolves around varied emotions and the essence of humanity. It is a fictitious depiction of societal change and its impact on mindsets. It is a thriller set during the heights of insurgency in Meghalaya.
There are no heroes or villains in the film, which is driven more by its overarching theme, a conflict of slow destruction between ethnic and political opponents that has no winners or losers, than by its characters, intriguing as they might be.
