‘Manto’, ‘Piku’ to open Jaipur Film Festival

Pakistani biographical film “Manto” and Amitabh Bachchan-starrer “Piku” have been announced as the opening films at the upcoming Jaipur International Film Festival (JIFF), 2016.

The eighth edition of the fest, beginning on January 2 here, will be inaugurated by filmmaker Prakash Jha.

“‘Manto’ (from Pakistan) and ‘Piku’ will be the opening films of the festival while ‘Iraqi Odyssey’ (from UAE ) and ‘Saankal’ (from Rajasthan) would be the closing films of the festival which is scheduled to be inaugurated by Prakash Jha on January 2,” Hanu Roj, festival director said today.

The festival, which will screen 152 films, will take place Golecha Cinema and is dedicated to screen writers, he said.

A total of 35 feature films, 17 documentary feature films, 58 short films, 17 documentary short films and 15 short animation films will be screened.

The films, to be screened in competitive and other sections, have been selected from the entries of 2176 films received from 100 countries, he said.

“There has been increased representation of films from Asian countries this time. There are representation of films from Pakistan, Afghanistan, UAE and Iran besides European countries and India. There are more than a dozen films on subjects concerning women to get screening in the Festival,” he added.

Inputs by PTI