NEW DELHI: A total of 144 films including 71 from overseas will be screened at the 3rd Jaipur International Film Festival beginning later this week in the pink city.

To be held from 27 to 30 January, the competitive festival will have 57 films from India including two from Rajasthan itself. The festival will be held at four venues and is expected to attract around 300 film delegates from India and overseas.

Veteran actress Asha Parekh is to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Festival in a gala evening.

A special jury of international film critics reviewed the foreign submissions to the JIFF Awards which include at least two films that have won Oscar awards.

Festival Director Hanu Roj said in a press meet in Jaipur today that the two films are “Hugh Hefner-Playboy, Activist and Rebel” among features dealing with the life of the founder of ‘Playboy’ and “Smile Pinky” (documentary) under International category.

The festival will be inaugurated by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. State Tourism Minister Beena Kaak will preside over the inaugural function.

The opening will be followed by famous Rajasthani folk dancer Gulabo. The films, “Hay Fever’ directed by Lara Luchhiti of Italy, ‘Open Door’ directed by Alessandro Del Bianco of Italy, ‘Rain For Life’ by Jal Bhagirathi Foundation of Rajasthan, ‘Topi’ by Arjun Rihan from the United States, will be screened as the Opening films. “Gandhi-The Mahatma” by Naresh Chandra Lal will be the closing film after the Red Carpet awards function on 30 January.

In the feature film category, Golden Camel, Red Rose, Green Rose, Yellow Rose and Best Director for first film are being presented from this year. This is in addition to awards in the category of Short Film, Documentary Film, Director, Cinematography, Sound, Script, Editing, best film From Rajasthan, Critics’ Award, Animation Film, and Upcoming Star. The last two categories have been added this year.

The jury includes former Films Division Director General Kuldeep Sinha, filmmakers Subhash Kapoor, G L Bhardawaj, Kreet Khurana, Italian filmmaker Alessandro Del Bianco, Deepak Mahaan, Biju Mohan, Dr. D P Agarwal, M D Soni, Michael Wigge (Germany), and Rakesh Gogna.

He said another attraction at the Festival will be the screening of six films from the Indian Panorama, one of which is from Rajasthan (‘I am Kalam’ by Nila Madhab Panda) and another - ‘Just Another Love Story’ by Kaushik Ganguly starring Rituparno Ghosh - won a major award at the last International Film Festival of India at Panaji in Goa in 2010.

The others are ‘Raavanan’ by Mani Ratnam, the Marathi films ‘Jhing Chik Jhing’ by Nitin Nandan and ‘Vihir’ by Umesh Kulkarni, and Kannada film ‘Aidu Ondola Aidu’ by V K Prakash.

Some films from Rajasthan or with the state as backdrop will also be screened, including ‘13 May Gulabi Nagar’ directed by Nand K Pareek and Vinod Gupta; ‘Bhobhar’ directed by Gajendra S Shrotriya, and ‘I am Kalam’, apart from documentary ‘Tiger Queen’ by S Nallamuthu.

The various sections of the Festival include Worldwood International, Coming Stars about student cinema, ‘U Turn Rajasthan’ about Rajasthani cinema, ‘The Guest’ which is a focus on French Cinema, a Jury Retrospective, the Indian Panorama, and a Bollywood Special.

There will also be several discussions during the festival. These include ‘Beyond the Oscars’ to be moderated by Film Federation of India General Secretary Supran Sen, ‘Young filmmakers and networking’ to be moderated by film critic B B Nagpal, ‘Yesterday/ past –Today/ present – tomorrow/ future of cinema’ moderated by filmmaker Subhash Kapoor, the Film Market section with FFI President T P Aggarwal and Jaipur distributor Sanjay Chatar, a discussion on French cinema, another on South Asian cinema, and a discussion on film distribution in India conducted by Santosh Singh Jain who is former FFI President and President of the Central Cine Circuit.

There will be three filmmaker sessions with Lara Lee of the United States, Jag Mohan Mundhara from India, and the team of ‘Smile Pinky’. There will be workshops by Subhash Kapoor (India) and Allessandra Del Bianco.

Apart from filmmaker Kamal Kumar Barjatya, several filmmakers from India and overseas whose films are being screened are also expected to attend the Festival.