NEW DELHI: A Festival of 21 features and 15 non-features which were selected for the Indian Panorama 2007 of the International Film Festival of India commenced in the capital today.

The 8-day exposition organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals opened with Bagher Bacha, a non-feature film in Bangla directed by Bishnu Dev Halder, a former student of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata. It was followed by Ore Kadal in Malayalam directed by Shyamaprasad. Entry to all film shows is free.

This package of Indian Panorama presents a wide spectrum of contemporary themes and treatments. The debut directors like Sameer Hanchate, Bhavana Talwar and Samir Chanda bring with them a refreshing and incisive style of cinema, while the stalwarts like Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Budhadeb Dasgupta challenge ideas and established norms again with their films, Naalu Penungal and Ami Iyasin Aar Amaar Madhubala.

The non-feature film section offers a large variety. The biographicals like Naushad Ali, Pandit Ramnarayan, Mubarak Begum and Rajarshi Bhagyachandra of Manipur chronicle the lives of important Indian personalities. Films like Bagher Bacha, Hope Dies Last in War, Joy Ride and whose Land Is It Anyway are stimulating. The Indian Panorama 2007 presents a wide spectrum of contemporary themes and treatments.

The Indian Panorama package was selected by two juries of eminent film makers. The feature film jury was headed by KS Sethumadhavan, and members included Leslie Carvalho, Dr. Mrunalinni Patil Dayal, Manju Bora, Shubhra Gupta and Abhijit Dasgupta. The non-feature film jury was headed by another renowned film maker Arun Khopkar and members included Pankaj Butalia, Gautam Saikia and Kavita Chaudhary.