The week-long festival will be inaugurated by Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, and Mayor of Pune, Rajlaxmi Bhosle, at the Ganesh Kalakrida Rangmanch at six in the evening on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference, Patel said, "We have worked really hard to make this film festival an international one. There are a number of film festivals in India like Kolkata, Goa, Kerala and many more. But I am proud to say that PIFF is the only festival in India which awards cash prizes in its competition section of world cinema. I am sure one day international filmmakers will premiere their films here."

"This is the fourth year we are giving the Prabhat International Award for the best film and best director. We will also be presenting Sant Tukaram Award for the best international Marathi film," Patel informed.

The festival will showcase over 170 films between January 10 and 17.

Various categories for the festival include:

Competition section: Comprising of international films, Marathi films and students films. World cinema: Comprising 64 films from 25 countries across the globe.

Retro section: Five Shyam Benegal films, seven films of Alexander Kloog of Germany and 11 films of Pedro Almodovar of Spain.

Tribute: This section will showcase movies of five well-known personalities from the industry.

Best of Hindi: Will showcase six mainstream movies of 2007.

Country focus: Films from various countries like Germany, Italy and Hungary.

Indian Panorama: 15 films from various Indian languages.

There will be two new sections -- Gems from NFAI and animation category -- introduced this year, according to Patel. Gems from NFAI will showcase seven humorous European films.

Fifty films from eight countries were showcased at the first PIFF in 2002. The number now has gone to 170 from over 43 countries this year. The management committee is expecting over 5000 delegates this year, Patel said.