Panaji (Goa) [India], November 20 (ANI): As the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is back with its 54th edition in Goa, Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur talked about the inauguration of Film Bazaar and the growth of the media and entertainment industry.

He said, "On the inauguration of Film Bazaar, I can say that the growth of the media and entertainment industry in India is 20 per cent annually. Today we are one of the five largest markets in the world. The film market is one of the biggest markets not only in South-East Asia but in the entire world."Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Dr L Murugan also said that the new addition to the festival is Film Bazaar, "The opening film is 'Catching Dust' and it's an English movie. Each year many new things are being added to the film festival. This year a Film Bazaar has been set up here."The guest list for the event also includes Vijay Sethupathi, Sara Ali Khan, Pankaj Tripathi, Sunny Deol, Karan Johar, Shantanu Moitra, Shreya Ghoshal and Sukhwinder Singh.

According to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting press note, Catching Dust, a thriller by award-winning British filmmaker Stuart Gatt, has been selected as the opening film of the gala. About Dry Grasses directed by French Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan will be the Mid fest film and The Featherweight directed by Robert Kolodny is the closing film for 54th IFFI.

Filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani will serve as the head of the five-member jury for the best web series (OTT) award at the festival. Divya Dutta, Prosenjit Chatterjee, and filmmakers Krishna DK and Utpal Borpujari are part of the jury panel for the inaugural category.

A total of 32 entries across 10 languages from 15 OTT platforms have been selected for the inaugural best web series award.

Speaking about the newly introduced OTT awards, Anurag Thakur said that since the COVID-19 pandemic, the OTT industry has seen a boom in India and original content created in India is employing thousands of people. In response to the dynamic landscape of this sector, growth of which stands at 28 percent annually, the Ministry has introduced this award celebrating the outstanding content creators on OTT platforms.

Renowned Hollywood actor and producer Michael Douglas will be honoured with the prestigious Satyajit Ray Excellence in Film Lifetime Award. He will also address the IFFI Master Class on November 28.

The Indian Panorama is chosen by a jury of notable film personalities from across India, with a total of 12 jury members for feature films and six jury members for non-feature films, led by the respective chairpersons.

The Feature Film Jury, which consists of 12 members, will be chaired by famous director, actor, and producer TS Nagabharana.The Feature Film Jury chose Anand Ekarshi's film Aattam (Malayalam) as the opening feature film of the Indian Panorama Section. Noted documentary film director Arvind Sinha presides over the six-member Non-Feature Film Jury.Indian Panorama section will showcase 25 feature films and 20 non-feature films from India. In the non-feature section is 'Andro Dreams' from Manipur.

From a pool of 239 modern Indian non-feature films, a package of 20 has been chosen for screening in the Indian Panorama segment. The collection of short films shows young and veteran filmmakers' ability to capture, examine, entertain, and reflect modern Indian values.

54th IFFI will conclude on November 28. (ANI)