Ang Lee`s `Life Of Pi` to open 43rd IFFI in Goa

Panaji: Oscar-award-winning director Ang Lee`s much anticipated 3D film "Life Of Pi" will open this year`s edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) while Mira Nair`s `The Reluctant Fundamentalist` will be the closing film.

"Life Of Pi" is based on the Booker-prize-winning novel by Yann Martel. The fantasy-adventure film follows the story of a young boy, who is adrift in the Pacific Ocean for more than 200 days with a Bengal Tiger. It stars debutante Suraj Sharma, Tabu and Irrfan Khan. "`Life of Pi` will inaugurate this festival on November 20," Director of IFFI Shankar Mohan told PTI. Nair`s "The Reluctant Fundamentalist", is again an adaptation of Pakistani author`s Mohsin Hamid`s celebrated novel of the same name. The film had made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival before playing at the Toronto International Film Festival. It stars Liev Schreiber, Kate Hudson, Riz Ahmed and Kiefer Sutherland. IFFI will be inaugurated by Bollywood star Akshay Kumar. This year, the festival is also celebrating 100 years of Indian cinema and will have sections like International Competition, Cinema of the World, Foreign Retrospectives, Tributes, Country Focus, Indian Panorama, Indian Retrospectives and Tributes, Animation and 3D cinema, and Film Bazaar. The inauguration ceremony will be held in an open space this year called Darya Sangam behind state run Kala Academy building where River Mandovi meets the Arabian Sea. PTI