New Delhi: Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar on Monday said that the 51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will be organised in a ‘hybrid manner’ in Goa.
Javadekar said that people will be able to witness the festival online, whereas the opening and closing ceremonies will be organised at the location with a smaller audience.
He also announced that 21 non-feature films will participate in this edition of IFFI.
Speaking at the International Coronavirus Short Film Festival here, the minister said that the idea of organising a film festival is to celebrate short films made on coronavirus.
Congratulating the organisers of the festival, Javadekar said that the participation of 2,800 films from 108 countries on a single topic is an example of peoples’ immense talent.
Union Minister for Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi congratulated Javadekar and the Ministry of I&B for successfully creating mass awareness about coronavirus in a vast country like India.
He also congratulated the jury and the organisers of the festival for bringing such a vast array of short films to a single place.
Javadekar further said that the pandemic has caused major upsets in countries across the globe.
However, he noted, that India has been able to handle the crisis well under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Minister also said that the crisis is now on its way out and soon vaccines would be available in India too.
He also cautioned people against letting the guard down before antibodies are created and the second dose of the vaccine is administered.
