The 49th International Film Festival of India opens in Panaji, Goa

The 49th International Film Festival of India began in Panaji, capital of Goa.

The theme of for this year's film festival is New India through a variety of genres of cinema, including history, action, romance and sports.
Jharkhand is the focus state for this year, with Jharkhand Day being celebrated on 24th November as part of the festival.
The focus country is Israel.

Details:

This edition of the festival will showcase 212 films from over 68 countries which reflects diversity of taste.
International Competition section has 15 films out of which 3 are Indian.
Competition section represents films produced and co-produced by 22 countries.
26 feature and 21 non - feature Indian films will be screened in Indian Panorama section.
The opening film of the festival was "The Aspern Papers", which tells story of obsession, grandeur lost and dreams of Byronic adventures.
This year as an extension of Khelo India Branding, Indian Sports Biopics will also be screened including Mary Kom, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and MSD: The untold story.
The festival will also include a tribute to Iron Man of India - Sardar Patel.
The Homage section of this festival will pay tribute to Shashi Kapoor, Sridevi, Karunanidhi and Kalpana Lajmi.

It is the biggest state-backed film festival and conducted jointly by Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Directorate of Film Festivals and Government of Goa.
It was founded in 1952 and since then held annually in Goa.
It aims at providing a common platform for cinemas of world to project the excellence of the film art.
It also seeks to contribute to create awareness for understanding and appreciation of film cultures of different nations in context of their social and cultural ethos and promote friendship and cooperation among people of the world.