Mumbai: The ninth Ajanta-Ellora International Film Festival will probably be held in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar from January 3, the organisers have introduced.

The five-day competition will kick off at Rukmini Auditorium of MGM University campus.

The opening ceremony will probably be attended by filmmakers R Balki, Anubhav Sinha and Principal Secretary of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Apurva Chandra, the organisers advised reporters on Saturday.

Ashok Rane, competition director, stated German-Finnish movie “Fallen Leaves” will open the gala. Palme d’Or successful French courtroom drama “Anatomy of a Fall” will convey the curtain down on the newest version of the competition on January 7, Rane added.

Veteran lyricist-screenwriter Javed Akhtar will probably be felicitated with the Padmapani Lifetime Achievement Award on the inaugural day.

Besides movie screenings at Prozone Mall, the competition will even host occasions equivalent to brief movie competitions, Indian movie competitors, grasp courses with Sinha and Balki, in addition to interactive classes.

The successful movie group will probably be awarded the Golden Kailasha Award and a money prize of Rs 1 lakh. Winners in finest actor, actress and script classes will even obtain awards on the competition.

Veteran actor and director Dhritiman Chatterjee will head the Indian movie competitors jury, which additionally consists of cinematographer Dimo Popov, director Nachiket Patwardhan, movie critic Rashmi Doraiswamy, cinematographer Hari Nair, stated chairman of organising committee Nandkishor Kagliwal.

FIPRESCI India awards will even be given to the successful movies, Kagliwal added.

During the course of the gala, PIB senior officer Prakash Magdum will ship a particular lecture on ‘Gandhi and Cinema’ and Chatterjee will converse at a session titled ‘Understanding Mrinal Sen’ on the grasp filmmaker.

An interactive session with administrators taking part within the movie competitions and a movie appreciation workshop are additionally scheduled, stated competition’s creative director Chandrakant Kulkarni.

The gala, earlier referred to as Aurangabad International Film Festival (AIFF), is organised by Nath Group, Yashwantrao Chavan Centre, Mumbai and MGM University.