NEW DELHI: A tribute to actor Irrfan Khan, who will soon be seen in Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World (the new chapter in the Jurassic Park saga out in June 2015) will receive Europe’s first tribute, with the screening of three of his films at the 14th River to River Florence Indian Film Festival in Italy, later this week.
The festival being held from 6 to 12 December will feature Qissa by Anup Singh (Italian premiere on 7 December) in the presence of director Anup Singh and Irrfan Khan), Paan Singh Tomar by Tigmanshu Dhulia (Italian premiere, on 8 December), and the cult movie The Namesake by Mira Nair (on 12 December).
In addition, seven episodes of the third series of the US HBO episodes of In Treatment that the actor starred in will be screened from 9 to 11 December. Khan will receive ‘The Key to the City’ from the Lord Mayor of Florence Dario Nardella.
Apart from Florence, this festival will be held in Rome on 13 and 14 December and in Milan in February. All films will have English and Italian subtitles. Also, for the first time, the festival will be held in Mumbai in March next year.
The festival will open with the Italian premiere of the on-the-road comedy Finding Fanny by Homi Adajana, with a stellar cast including Nasseruddin Shah, Arjun Kapoor, Pankaj Kapur, Dimple Kapadia and Deepika Padukone. Deepika Padukone stars in the closing film too- Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
The selected short films, all Italian premiers, are 6 Cup Chai by Laila Khan, Dreamworks by Vishal Vittal, Hechki by Kartik Singh, My Dear Americans by Arpita Kumar, The Frame by Samvida Nanda (directors Laila Khan and Kartik Singh will meet the audience); 8 to 8 by Pratim Dasupta, Bar Stools by filmmaking duo Varun Bajaj and Neale Hemrajani, Chypre by Anish Dedhia, Int Café night by Adhiraj Bose, and Stuff by Sofian Khan.
There will also be a Student Film Section, a selection of non-competing premieres from India’s three film schools, the Film and TV Institute of Pune, the Whistling Woods of Mumbai, and the Prasad Film and TV Institute of Chennai.
