 The recently concluded 41st International Film Festival of India has further enhanced the image of Goa as a world class film destination. The eleven day long carnival of acclaimed movies from all continents was of course a virtual treat for thousands of film buffs. The 41st edition also witnessed Indian movies emerging to the center stage bagging awards including the prestigious "Golden Peacock". Competing with seventeen other movies, 41st International Film Festival "Moner Manush", the Bengali movie by eminent director Gautam Ghosh has won the coveted "Golden Peacock" award.
This Indo-Bengla joint production celebrates the significance of tolerance and non-violence. Through "Moner Manush" an Indian film is bagging the highest award after a gap of ten years. Another Indian movie "Just Another Love Story" directed by Kaushik Ganguly also brought proud moment to India by winning the "Special Jury Award".
 The film depicts agony and social stigma faced by gays. Rithuparna Ghosh's stunning performance in this movie received all-round praise. The acting skill of this eminent director turned out to be a pleasant surprise to film lovers.
The newly introduced best actor and best actress awards were also the hallmark of this year's film festival. Departing from earlier editions, this year films from all over the continents were part of the competition section. In different sections, 300 movies from 61 countries provided altogether different profile to the festival. The Indian Panorama was also attractive with 47 movies including 26 feature films that showcased the rich and varied film culture of India.
"Cannes Kaleidoscope 2010" , containing a package of ten films that made into Cannes festival this year, gave a rare chance to film lovers to watch recent internationally acclaimed movies. The retrospective section of the festival has been rich with celluloid poetries by eminent directors like Jan Jakub Kolsky,  Mira Nair, Michael Cacoyannis, Jean Becker and Jim Jarmusch. In country focus segment award winning movies from Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Georgia and Mexico kept the viewers spellbound. Australian indigenous films, Taiwanese new wave cinema and Iranian contemporary movies were also celluloid feast with aesthetic and heart rending content.
IFFI-2010 paid homage to the iconic French filmmaker Eric Rohmer. Six of his celebrated movies were part of the festival. The festival also paid rich tribute to eleven Indian artists and film makers who bid good bye to this world. The movies of Ravi Baswani, Pamela Rooks, Debu Deodhar, Tahir Hussain, K.Ashwath, Keshu Ramsay, Abrar Alvi, Sujit Kumkar, Bina Rai, Nirmal Pandey and Vishnuvardhan were part of the festival.
As permanent venue of international film festival, Goa has of course emerged from strength to strength. To the people of Goa to whom day-to-day life itself is a celebration, film festival provides further fillip to festivity. The Directorate of Film Festivals and the State Government of Goa have reasons to be proud of for organising one of the richest film festivals in the world, both in content and prize money.
Ram Krishna Pillai, Correspondent, Thiruvananthapuram | 
