Chennai film festival to feature movies from 55 nations

CHENNAI: The city is all set to host the latest edition of the Chennai International Film Festival (CIFF) this year, featuring films from the world’s most prestigious festivals in 2018 and 2019.
In its 17th edition, CIFF will open with ‘Parasite’, the first Korean film to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year, and will showcase 130 films from 55 countries over the next one week.“This year for the first time, we are getting entries from Azerbaijan (‘The Bra’), Albania (‘Holy Boom’), and Qatar (‘The Unknown Saint’),” said festival director E Thangaraj.
Featuring at the festival is also ‘Netaji’, a film made in the Irula language by Vijeesh Mani. Other films to look out for include ‘Amori’, a Konkani film that won the National Award and French film 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire' that won the Queer Palm at Cannes.
CIFF will be inaugurated at Kalaivanar Arangam on Thursday at 6pm, and films will be screened at Devi theatre, Tagore Film Centre NFDC, Russian Cultural Centre, Casino theatre and SDC Anna Theatre through the course of the festival that ends on December 19.