The seventh Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) — to be held between January 8 and 15 — will be inaugurated by Anand Sharma, Minister of State for External Affairs and Information and Broadcasting, at the Ganesh Kala Krida Rangmanch on January 8 at 5.30 pm. “This year’s inaugural ceremony will be dedicated to Pandit Bhimsen Joshi,” said PIFF director Jabbar Patel.

Speaking at a press conference, Patel said, “The inaugural function will see the presentation of PIFF 2009 life time achievement awards to veteran actors Sulochana, Shashi Kapoor and Hema Malini.”

PIFF 2009 will screen over 150 films from about 42 countries. In world competition section, 109 films from 30 countries have been received and in Marathi section, 30 entries have been received. The festival will showcase films under categories like World Cinema , Student Films- Live Action and Animation, World Showcase, Country Focus, Retrospective, Tribute, Indian Showcase, Focus on Director, Gems from NFAI and Marathi Cinema Today.

Starting this year, a sports section has been squeezed in the festival and the theme for this year is Football. Three films based on the game will be showcased at the festival. Another added feature of this year’s festival is that starting January 8, the organisers will daily publish bulletins of the festival that will include the reviews of films, interviews of personalities involved and so on.

The awards that will be contituted to various categories of films include — Government of Maharashtra Prabhat Award for Best International Film, Best International Director, Sant Tukaram Award for Best International Marathi Film and PIFF Best International Actor Male and Female. The award function will be held on January 15 at Ganesh Kala Krida Rangmanch at 5.30 pm. Suresh Kalmadi, member of Parliament and chairman, PIFF said, “Pune is the cultural capital of the state and I have requested the Chief Minister to make this festival, the official film festival of the state. However, the decision is pending.”