Majid Majidi to get Lifetime Achievement Award at JIFF

Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi will be honoured with the first International Lifetime Achievement Award at the Jaipur International Film Festival (JIFF) in February.

"The first International Lifetime Achievement Award of JIFF will be given to filmmaker Majid Majidi from Iran. He is a well known name in the world film fraternity. His film 'Children of Heaven' has given him tremendous popularity," JIFF film market director Nand Kishor Jalani said in a statement.

Majidi has made acclaimed films like "Baran", "The Willow Tree" and "The Song of Sparrows".

The seventh edition of JIFF, to be held Feb 1-5 at Golcha Cinema, Chamber Bhawan and Manipal University in Jaipur, will open with Afghani film "A Few Cubic Meters of Love".

Alongside film screenings, the festival will also feature a directors' meet, writers' meet, animation workshops and seminars.

International filmmaker Shaji N. Karun will be the chairperson of the director's meet which will take place Feb 2. President of Indian Motion Picture Producers Asociation T.P. Agarwal, Director's Association president Ashok Pandit, actress Pallavi Joshi and film director Vivek Agnihotri will interact in this meet.

Writer of films like "Satyagraha" and "Raajneeti" Anjum Rajabali is the chairperson of the writers' meet which will be held Feb 3. Writers Kamlesh Pandey and Shridhar Raghavan will be the main speakers at the meet.

Animation workshops and seminars will be spread across two days starting Feb 4.

As many as 25 stories and scripts from 10 countries have been selected this year for an International Script Writing Competition. The top three stories and scripts will be selected by the jury and the winners will be declared during the award ceremony Feb 5.