New Delhi, Dec 11 : Union Minister of State for Information andBroadcasting Anand Sharma will inaugurate the Festival of Indian Panorama-2008 Films here today.

In a special exposition of the entire Indian Panorama package, screened recently at the International Film Festival of India, 2008 in Goa, will be presented at Siri Fort Auditorium Complex.

This Festival of Indian Panorama-2008 will screen 26 feature and 21 non-Feature films till December 21.

The opening film of the feature film section, Little Zizou (Gujarati- Hindi-English), directed by Sooni Taraporevala, will be screened in the presence of the cast and crew of the film, comprising Sooni Taraporevala , Imaad Shah, Sohrab Ardeshir and Shernaz Patel.

16 mm : Memories, Movement and a Machine (Malayalam) ,directed by KR Manoj is the opening non-feature film, to be screened December 17.

This package of the Indian Panorama presents a wide spectrum of contemporary themes and treatments. Debut directors like Krishnan Seshadri Gomatam (Mudhal Mudhal Mudhal Varai), Abhaya Simha (Gubbachigalu) and Umesh Kulkarni (Valu) bring with them a refreshing and incisive style of cinema, while the stalwarts like Adoor Gopalakrishnan (Oru Pennum Randaanum), Girish Kassarvalli (Gulabi Talkies) and S. Priyadarshan (Kanchivaram) respectively challenge ideas and established norms again with their films.

The non-feature film section also offers a bouquet of spectacular films.

Rajesh Jala''s Children of the Pyre documents the life of children in the famed burning ghats of Varanasi.

Antardhwani by Jabbar Patel, a Films Division''s production, captures the magic of the living legend of Santoor, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma while remembering Bimal Roy is a tribute to the cinema icon, from his son Joy Bimal Roy. FTII, Pune--produced Three of Us chronicles the tremendous will-power of a differently-abled person.

The Indian Panorama is one of the most important sections of International Film Festival of India, since it represents the rich diversity of Indian cinema.

The section was first organized in the year 1978 with a view to present the wide range of cinema produced in the country.

Ever since, the Indian Panorama section has been a regular feature of the International Film Festival of India. (ANI)