Legend Studio

As curtains will draw on Dubai Film Festival on December 16, cinema enthusiasts can gear up for another journey of thought-provoking fares.

The fifth India International Women Film Festival (IIWFF) is all set to kickstart here on December 15.

The five-year-old festival, a celebration of womens' varied voices from across the lenghts and breadths of the globe, will open with Academy Award winner Australian Jane Campion's movie 'Bright Star'.

The week-long festival will showcase movies like Adoor Gopalakrishnan's 'Four Women', Sally Potter's 'The Rage' (UK), Christiane Burkhard's 'Tracing Aleida' (Mexico), Yariv Barel and Mor Kapalnsky's 'Vlog' (Pakistan and US).

''It's an attempt to establish the female gaze. It talks about women's empowerment, very relevant in a country like India where gender discrimination is a regular phenomenon,'' festival director Shyamali Banerjee said.

IIWFF will also honour veteran Bengali actress Madhabi Mukherjee with the Lifetime Achievement Award to commemorate her remarkable contribution to the Indian film industry and culture.

Ms Mukherjee is remembered for her powerhouse performances in Satyajit Ray's 'Charulata', 'Mahanagar' and Ritwik Ghatak's 'Subarnarekha'.

This year, the festival will screen 140 films from 40 countries.

A 'Special Tribute' section will screen three films by Indian directors, namely, '15 park Avenue' by Aparna Sen, 'Namesake' by Meera Nair and 'Water' by Deepa Mehta.

''As a prelude to the 2010 Commonwealth Games, we have a competitive segment title 'Special Focus on Films from Commonwealth Members', where we will screen 20 films made on the Commonwealth nation's cultural ethos,'' Ms Banerjee added.

The focus country being Turkey this year, the festival will also showcase 10 films by Turkish directors.