Morshedul Islam's film Duratta to be screened

Subarna, Humayun Faridee and child artiste in Duratta

For the first time, the competitive section of the 10-day festival is being expanded from films from Asia to include movies from Latin America and Africa. And there will be 16 films in this section to be assessed by a jury headed by Chilean director Miguel Littin and including Sayeed Akhtar Mirza and Faramarz Gharibian of Iran.

The Indian entries for the competitive section are Nagesh Kuknoor-directed Iqbal and Malayalam film Perumazhakkalam by Kamal.

Bangladesh will be represented too--even if on a modest scale. The country's sole entry is director Morshedul Islam's film Duratta, which will be screened in the 'Cinema of the World' section on November 27. Last year, Tanvir Mokammel's Lal Salu was an entry in the competitive section.

The festival, which opens with the Brazilian film Olga, directed by Jayme Monjardim, will have a retrospective of films of Italian screenwriter, actress and director Lena Wertmuller who began her career with the legendary Frederico Fellini.

The festival will pay a special tribute to late filmmaker Ismail Merchant and highlight the films of late actor Sunil Dutt and director Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

A highlight of the festival will be the premiere of eminent director Prakash Jha's latest Hindi film Apaharan, starring twice national award winning best actor Ajay Devgan, Nana Patekar and Bipasha Basu in a de-glamourised role for the first time.

The film, which sees Jha return to his home state setting of Bihar, portrays how abductions have turned into an industry in the economically impoverished state.

Even before the festival began, a controversy had broken out as to who would be the chief guest at the festival, following media reports that Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan would be given the honour. However, there were protests from a section of film circles, including a film society.

Finally, the row was resolved with the festival organisers choosing octogenarian actor Dev Anand to inaugurate the festival.

Bipasha Basu and South Indian Tara, who won this year's national award for best actress, will welcome participants at the inauguration ceremony.

Another highlight of the festival will be the special presence of France whose National Day will be celebrated on December 2. An entire day will be devoted to celebrate the magic of French cinema and a dozen of French productions will be showcased. Among them is L'enfant (The Child), directed by Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne, winners of the top Palme d'Or (The Golden Palm) award at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, which will be the closing film of the Goa festival.

Adding to the glamour quotient of the festival will be a 10-member French film delegation. This team will include Ford supermodel, actress and one of the L'Oreal professional dream team faces Noemie Lenoir and actor-director Alain Chabat who will be present at the premiere of French film Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra.

Another glamour feature of the festival will be the promotion of Bollywood actress-cum-film maker Pooja Bhatt's latest movie, Holiday, shot in the sunny locales of Goa, at the opening ceremony. The film relates the story of a girl who goes to Goa on a holiday that transforms her life. Present on the occasion will be the film's lead stars Onjolee Nair, Dino Morea and Pakistani actress Meera.