13th River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival: From Ganges to Arno … and Tiber! #R2RFIFF

Shabana Azmi (Photo: Bollywood Hungama / License: CC BY 3.0)

My final (and favourite!) film festival of the year always is the lovely River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival in Florence/Italy (flickr photo album). This year (2013), its 13th edition will take place from Friday, November 22, until Thursday, November 28, at beautiful Cinema Odeon on Piazza Strozzi, followed by a weekend in Rome (November 29 to December 1) at Nuovo Cinema Aquila, via L’Aquila 68).

The programme has just been released today.

Following 2012’s special guest Amitabh Bachchan (video below), this year’s guest of honour will be Shabana Azmi (photo). Wikipedia: „(…) She made her film debut in 1974 and soon became one of the leading actresses of Parallel Cinema, an Indian New Wave movement known for its serious content and neo-realism. (…) Azmi has appeared in over 120 Hindi films in both mainstream and independent cinema, and since 1988 she has acted in several foreign projects.“

Shukriya, Amitabh Bachchan! (Celebrating 100 Years of Indian Cinema at River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival)

Big B. certainly is getting around! At the Marrakech Film Festival, he was introduced by none other than Catherine Deneuve, one of my first cinema idols: