The festival will be held from January 14-20, 2005. The festival will have 13 sections, including the world competition, with 40 contemporary films scheduled to be screened. Of these, 10-15 will be Indian films.

Introducing a world competition section is an ambitious move on the part of PIFF since no other Indian film festival has this category, festival director and critically acclaimed film director, Dr Jabbar Patel, said. "If we go competitive, it attracts new international cinema," he told reporters.

The state government has instituted two prizes, the Maharashtra government Prabhat best international film and best international director with cash awards, respectively, of $20,000 and $10,000 for this category. The awards commemorate 75 years of Prabhat Film Studios, the path-breaking studio located in Pune, being celebrated this year. Dr Patel added that they have received about 60 entries for the competition, of which 18 have been short-listed.

Increasing its scale in its third year, the festival will screen a total of 120 films at three venues, the E Square multiplex (three screens) and Inox (two screens) as well as the National Film Archives of India (NFAI), vice chairperson of the PIFF, Sabina Sanghvi said.

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We are proud to present you the 3rd Pune International Film festival (PIFF). We are energised by the response the 2002 & 2003 festivals and our excitement towards couldn’t have been higher. Pune, has a firmly ensconced film tradition since “Prabhat”, Navyug and Saraswati Cinetone days. Stalwarts like V Shantaram, Damle-Fatelal, Acharya Atre and Mast. Vinayak gave monumental cinema. Later, Prabhat became the Film & Television Institute of India and gave us a galaxy of internationally known filmmakers. We have a wonderful wealth of classics from all over the world in our National Film Archive of India.

Pune is the fastest growing cosmopolitan in the country today. The presence of FTII (Film and Television Institute of India) for a very long time as generated an unparalleled “intellect” Cinema audience base. Pune has a very large influx of foreign students, professionals, researchers etc. They come from all parts of the world and they are integral part of the strong society structure of Pune. The education capital of India – Pune, also draws students from all disciplines across the country.

The availability of a world class movie watching experience through the newly built Multiplexes (E square, Inox etc.) has triggered a new passions for cinema enthusiasts in the city. The communities of varied interest cinema-goers – regional, national & international is a large, proactive & a quality one. This provides for an ideal base for an International Film festival.

Films can be submitted online at PIFF 2005 - Online Film Submission Form. For more details please go to 3rd Pune International Film Festival 2005.