The festival, held annually in New Delhi with a preview in Mumbai, celebrates its tenth edition this year.
While the Lifetime Achievement Award for Writing on Cinema was introduced at the 6th Osian's Cinefan in 2004, the Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Cinema will be introduced this year, and $15,000 will be presented for each category.
The best films in the Asian-Arab and Indian Competition sections will be awarded $50,000 each and the best director in each section will win $20,000. The Special Jury Award and the best actor and actress will each take away $5,000.
The best first feature will receive $5,000 in addition to guaranteed support of $20,000 for the filmmakers' next film from Osian's recently-established film fund fFOOD (Film Fund - Osian's Originating Development).
The festival also announced a new competition section for feature and documentary films that deal with issues of intolerance. The best film in this category will take home a cash award of $20,000.
An Audience Award is also being set up for a film in competition and will win $5,000. FIPRESCI and the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) will also present awards.
Cinefan was launched in 1999 as a festival of Asian Cinema and was merged into auction house Osian's Connoisseurs of Art in 2004. Osian's also owns a film archive and is opening a film and arts complex - the Osianama - in Mumbai.
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