The International Jury for 51st edition of International Film Festival of India has been announced with eminent filmmakers from across the world. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry in a statement said that the Jury will comprise Pablo Cesar of Argentina as Chairman, Prasanna Vithanage of Sri Lanka, Abu Bakr Shawky of Austria, Priyadarshan of India and Rubaiyat Hossain of Bangladesh.
Pablo Cesar is an Argentine filmmaker. He has contributed to the African cinema by making the critically acclaimed films, Equinox, the Garden of the Roses, Los dioses de agua and Aphrodite, the Garden of the Perfumes.
Sri Lankan filmmaker Prasanna Vithanage is considered as one of the pioneers of the third generation of Sri Lankan cinema. He has directed eight feature films including Death on a Full Moon Day, August Sun, Flowers of the Sky and With You, Without You and won many prestigious national and international awards and has also been commercially successful in Sri Lanka.
Abu Bakr Shawky or “A.B.” Shawky is an Egyptian-Austrian writer and director. His first feature film, Yomeddine, was selected to participate in the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and will screen in the Main Competition section and compete for the Palme d’Or. Rubaiyat Hossain is a Bangladeshi film director, writer and producer. She is notable for the films Meherjaan, Under Construction and Made in Bangladesh.
Priyadarshan is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer. In a career spanning over three decades, he has directed more than 95 films in various Indian languages, predominantly in Malayalam and Hindi, while also having done six films in Tamil and two in Telugu.