Pune, Feb 25 (UNI) Acclaimed poet, lyricist, screenplay writer and social activist Javed Akhtar will deliver the Vijay Tendulkar Memorial Lecture during the upcoming Pune International Film Festival (PIFF). Amit Deshmukh, Minister for Medical Education and Cultural Affairs, Government of Maharashtra would be the Chief Guest for the inaugural function of the 20th PIFF being jointly organized by the Pune Film Foundation and the Government of Maharashtra between March 3rd and 10th. This was announced by Dr. Jabbar Patel, veteran filmmaker and the festival director of PIFF during a Press Conference held in the city today. Samar Nakhate - Creative Director of PIFF, Prakash Magdum – Director NFAI and Meghraj Rajebhosale, President of the Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal were present on the occasion. Trustees of the Pune Film Foundation including Satish Alekar and Sabina Sanghvi along with the members of the Film Selection Committee Makarand Sathe and Abhijeet Randive were also present. While sharing some other details of the inauguration function of 20th PIFF which will take place at Bal Gandharv Rang Mandir at on March 3rd Dr. Patel informed that Switzerland's 'Neighbours' by Mano Khalil shall be the opening film of the festival. Shreya Bugade and Swapnil Joshi would be the Presenters of the inaugural session and Pandit Satyasheel Deshpande would be the Guest of Honor on the occasion. The opening sequence will have a cultural program featuring artists like Sharvari Jamenis, Ganesh Chandanshivey and Yashwant Jadhav. Meghraj Rajebhosale announced the list of films selected for the Marathi Competitions section. The seven selected films include Aata Vel Zaali (Anant Mahadevan), Godavari (Nikhil Mahajan), Medium Spicy (Mohit Takalkar), Niwaas (Mehul Agaja), Ekda Kay Zala (Dr. Salil Kulkarni), Potra (Shankar Dhotre) and Ticha Shahar Hona (Rasika Agashe). The Marathi films that would be premiered during the 20th PIFF are Vartul (Shrikant Chaudhari), Awakash (Chittaranjan Giri), Institute of Pavtology (Prasad Namjoshi, Sagar Vanjari), Janani (Ashok Samarth), Raakh - Silent Film (Rajesh Chavan) and Ranganbh (Dhondiba Balu Karahbe). The Retrospective section of PIFF 2022 shall be dedicated to Satyajit Ray, an Indian filmmaker and Pier Paolo Pasolini, an Italian film director. Special programs, workshops that have been organized during the course of the PIFF this year are Vijay Tendulkar Memorial Lecture by Javed Akhtar on Sahir Ludhianvi and his writings on March 5th, Sukhan, a program on Urdu poetry and literature by Om Bhutkar on March 6th, a workshop on 'Sound in Films' by Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal & Dawn Studio on March 7th and a special discussion on Satyajit Ray and his films by Dhritiman Chatterjee, Dr. Mohan Agashe and Ravi Gupta on March 8th. Prakash Magdum, Director, NFAI informed about some of the initiatives being undertaken by NFAI during PIFF 2022 which will have a special exhibition of posters titled 'Chitranjali' and would be based on the theme of 75 years of India's independence and shall be based on themes like war hears and freedom fighters. The exhibition will take place at NFAI between March 4th and 10th. In a very special initiative Satyajit Ray's 3 films like Agantuk, Devi and Jalsaghar would be shown in the 35 mm format at NFAI since it has the projection equipment required for showing films of 35 mm format. While paying a tribute to Pt Bhimsen Joshi and Sahir Ludhinvi films like 'Gulacha Ganpati' and 'Pyasa' shall be shown from the archives. NFAI would now be publishing some of its research work and a book on Girish Kasarvalli shall be ceremoniously released during PIFF. UNI SP HK SHK0027