NEW DELHI: A total of 98 films have already found entry into the first Delhi International Film Festival to be held in December this year to coincide with the centenary of Indian cinema and a century of Delhi as the capital of India.

The Festival, being organised by the Social Circle, will be held from 21 to 27 December and will have ten different sections. It will take place at the Sirifort Auditorium and the NDMC Convention Centre.

Actor-filmmaker who recently made ‘Paan Singh Tomar’ and also acted in ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ along with actor Shiney Ahuja launched the website of the festival, www.delhiinternationalfilmfestival.com.

Senior film journalist Ram Kishore Parcha, who is President of the Festival, said there had been a vacuum of an international film festival since the International Film Festival of India was shifted to Goa, and there was also a need to have a filmmaking hub in north India. This festival would fulfill all these needs.

He announced that thespian Zohra Segal who had turned 100 would be presented a Life Time Achievement Award at the first festival.

Festival Vice-President Sanjay Singh and Festival Secretary Suresh K Goswami (a senior filmmaker himself) introduced various sections of the Festival.

Tigmanshu specifically underlined the fact that at least 2,500 similar festivals existed not only in the big cities like London, New York, Paris, Tokyo Beijing etc., but also in smaller towns. International Film festivals were also being held in many cities like Mumbai, Goa, Kolkata, and Thiruvananthapuram.

Returning to films after a gap and associated with the Festival, Ahuja said it was a novel and artistic platform for countrywide film actors and makers. Ahuja was born and brought up in Delhi, where he also completed his education.

The legendry Malayalam Filmmaker and Dada Saheb Phalke awardee Adoor Gopalakrishnan is Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Festival. The Board consists of Anurag Kashyap, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Sandeep Marwah, Shriram Raghavan, Uma Da Cunha, Shiney Ahuja, Yashpal Sharma, Shonali Bose, Sushma Parcha and Bela Negi from India, Alain Jallladeau, Phillip Jalladeau from France, Jamal Shah, Satish Anand from Pakistan, Sajedur Rehman Firoze from Bangladesh, Reza Degati from Iran, Andrej Karawakoski Avner Faingulernt, Erez Pery, Lina Murad from Syria, and Kai Syng Tan from London. About 80 Actors from India and overseas are also connected with this festival.

The best amongst selected films will be honoured with the Golden Minar and Silver Minar awards respectively. The festival in its first edition will not only honour the films, filmmakers, artists and writers, but will also honour outstanding persons who have excelled in their contribution towards the welfare of society and the people with Minare Dilli award.

Classic Films from Overseas and India are included as special sections along with Delhi Scope section in the festival. Retrospective, Tributes and Homage sections will include films of Dev Anand, Balraj Sahni and other legendary filmmakers and actors. This section will also include films of Adoor Gopalakrishnan and the distinguished actor Soumitra Chatterjee from Bengal.

The festival will showcase at least 150 films from nearly 70 countries, according to Goswami. The World Cinema section will showcase films like “Daughters of Hill” by Patrizia landi, “The Artist” by Michel Hazanavicius, “Jeremiah” by Eran Paz, “Love Bird” by Susan Collins, “The Sunshine” in The Corner by Sun Hao Young, “Mar” by Caner Erzincan and many more. India’s Zia-Us-Salaam is on the International Jury.

A special section called NRI Cinema has been included in the festival. Under this section at least 15 films by Non Resident Indians living in different parts of the world will be show cased. In this section films like “A Gran Plan” by Sangeeta Nambiyar of Singapore, “Oas” by Shiv Tiwari of New York, “The Happy Pulse” by Jay Bajaj of Canada, “Children of God” by Foukia Akhtar of United Arab Emirates will be showcased and the best film will be awarded the Golden Minar.

In addition to the Non Resident Indian Films, a section dedicated to the NRI writers has also been specially included in the festival in which a poetry collection book shall be launched as well. The book is edited by none other than the well-known senior journalist, Poetess and writer, Anita Kapoor from California. The best poem in this collection will be honoured with the Silver Minar.

Various seminars, panel discussions and workshops shall be organized during the festival. The Festival has a dedicated section for the artwork from all over the world, the theme of which is the Cinema and Delhi. The art work will have a special exhibition during the festival and the best artwork will be honoured with the Silver Minar Award.

The organisations that have partnered with the festival are Broadway International Film Festival, Los Angeles, South Cinema South Film Festival, and JMT from Israel, Slade school of fine arts, London, Film factory china, Turkish Film Industry, Cinetech Nationale Mexico, Brazil films, Media Box Bangladesh, Hunarkada from Pakistan, Film Boutique from Germany, Second largest Nantes film festival of France and French cultural centre.