Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar said the 51st International Film Festival of India in Goa would be organized in a ‘hybrid manner’. People would be able to witness the festival online while the opening and closing ceremonies would be organized at the location with a smaller audience.

Javadekar said that the inaugural ceremony of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will be held on January 16th in Goa. He said, the ceremony will be held in a hybrid mode wherein the inaugural and closing ceremony will be held in physical mode while the remaining part of the festival will be conducted in virtual mode.

Javadekar also announced the selection of 23 Feature and 20 non-feature films in Indian Panorama for the 51st IFFI to be held in Goa in January 16-24. In the Feature films section, 23 films are selected that include Kripal Kalita directed Assamese movie Bridge, Hindi Films Saand Ki Aankh and Chichhore, Govid Nihlani’s English movie Up Up & Up, Nila Madhab Panda’s Odia movie Kalira Atita, Marathi Movie Prawaas, Sanskrit Movie Namo and Malayalam Movie safe directed by Nila Madhab Panda.

Saand Ki Aankh, directed by Tushar Hiranandani and featuring Taapsee Pannu and Bhumi Pednekar, will be the opening movie for the Panorama section at the festival, which will also see the screenings of Vetri Maaran’s Asuran, Nitesh Tiwari’s Chhichhore among others. The list of films, selected by a jury headed by filmmaker-writer John Mathew Matthan, also includes Bengali film Avijatrik Kannada film Pinki Elli? Malayalam film Trance (Malayalam) among others.

In non-feature films, 20 films were selected that include Ankit Kothari’s Gujarati movie Panchika, Bimal Poddar’s Bengali movie Radha, English movie Ahimsa-Gandhi : The power of powerless directed by Ramesh Sharma and Manipuri movie Highways of Life directed by Maibam Amarjeet Singh.