'I have electric dreams' wins IFFI's Golden Peacock award

The 53rd edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) concluded on Monday with the Spanish film I have electric dreams directed by Valentina Maurel winning the Golden Peacock award.

The closing ceremony of IFFI was held at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee indoor stadium in Taleigao on Monday.

The 53rd edition of IFFI witnessed the participation of filmmakers and cinema lovers from across the globe.

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur, MoS I&B, L Murugan, MoS Tourism Shripad Naik, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.

"My commitment is to give strong emphasis to provide a platform to regional cinema. Because, regional is no longer regional... it has gone national and international. Cinema has played a vital role to reach Hindi language across the globe," Thakur said on the occasion.

Megastar Chiranjeevi was conferred the Indian Film Personality of the Year award on the concluding day of the International Film festival of India.

Vahid Mobasseri, the lead actor of No End, was honoured with Silver Peacock for Best Actor (Male), while Daniela Marin Navarro, lead Actor of Best Film I Have Electric Dreams was honoured with Silver Peacock for Best Actor (Female).

Iranian writer and director Nader Saeivar got Silver Peacock for Best Director for No End, and Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz bagged Special Jury Award for When the Waves are Gone.

Award for Best Debut Feature Film of a Director has been snatched by Asimina Proedrou for Behind The Haystack and Praveen Kandregula has received Special Mention for Cinema Bandi.

Legendary actress Asha Parekh, Akshay Kumar, and Ayushmann Khurana were felicitated on the occasion.

The nine-day festival featured 280 films from 79 countries opened with the Austrian film Alma and Oskar, directed by Dieter Berner, while Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi's Perfect Number was the closing film.

France was the 'Spotlight' country this year. As many as 25 feature films and 19 non-feature films from India were showcased in the 'Indian Panorama' section, while 183 films will be a part of the international section.

During the inauguration, the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed upon veteran director Carlos Saura, who along with Luis Bunuel and Pedro Almodovar is considered to be one of Spain's most renowned filmmakers.

The award was received by his daughter Anna Saura Ramon.