Irrfan Khan at 14th River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival / Looking back at last year’s #R2RFIFF

Irrfan Khan (Photo: http://www.bollywoodhungama.com / Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license)

Just announced: Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan will be the guest of honour at this year’s River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival in beautiful Florence/Italy – always my favourite festival of the year.

The festival will hold a special tribute to Khan who next appears in Colin Trevorrow’s „Jurassic World“. There will be screenings of his films „Qissa“, „The Namesake“ and „Paan Singh Tomar“, plus seven episodes of the third season of the HBO series „In Treatment“.

According to Wikipedia, Irrfan Khan has appeared in more than 30 Bollywood films (as of 2013). Khan’s English-language mainstream work includes character roles in movies like „New York“, „I Love You“, „A Mighty Heart“, „Slumdog Millionaire“, „The Amazing Spider-Man“, and „Life of Pi“.

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.“