The Goan Cultural Centre (GCC) under the leadership.of its President, Carmo Santos, in association with T-Bush.International Films and the Konkani Community of Holy.Family Cathedral, Kuwait is hosting the first ever Konkani.Film Festival at an international level in Kuwait. The.festival will be held in the auditorium of the American.International School of Kuwait in Medan Hawalli on.February 25, 2017 (which is National Day in Kuwait and.hence a public holiday) and February 26, the Liberation.Day of Kuwait..Carmo Santos, who runs a shipping business in.Kuwait, shares that his family roots lie in St Cruz and.Carmona in Goa. He makes it a point to visit Goa 3-4.times a year, and catches up with the latest trends in.Konkani cinema during each visit. “I was planning a film.festival for quite some time as I wanted to showcase.Konkani classics like ‘Amche Noxib’ and ‘Nirmon’..However, I remained busy with my work. As a huge.supporter of Konkani cinema, I co-produced the film.‘Nachom-Ia Kumpasar’, which has been screened in.Kuwait. This time, I wanted to screen the film ‘Home.Sweet Home 2’. When I enquired about booking the hall,.I was informed that it was available for two days as they.were public holidays. That’s when came up with the idea.of having more film screening. So now Konkani lovers.will have a chance to watch six great films,” says Carmo..The auditorium has a capacity of 1,200 and it has.already been sold out for many films. The profits of.the festival will be donated to the Bahrain Cathedral.cause. “Many Goans and Konkani speaking people who.are living in Kuwait have shown interest in the festival..Besides the screenings of the films, many directors,.producers and actors from Goa and London will be.visiting Kuwait for the film festival. The festival will be.inaugurated at the hands of the Indian Ambassador in.Kuwait,” adds Carmo..The films that will be screened on February 25 are.‘Big Ben’ at 10:30am, ‘Nirmon’ at 3pm and ‘Home Sweet.Home 2’ at 6pm. On February 26, ‘Enemy’ at 10:30am,.‘Noxibacho Khell’ at 3pm and ‘Nachom-Ia Kumpasar’ at.6pm will be screened..Swapnil Shetkar had earlier visited Kuwait with his.film ‘Home Sweet Home’ and now he will be travelling.with John D’Silva to attend the festival where ‘Home.Sweet Home 2’ will be screened. “This is a very good.initiative which will boost the Konkani film industry, in.Goa as well as globally. It will also open new markets for.the commercial viability of cinema. ‘Home Sweet Home’.did a Gulf tour last year and ‘Home Sweet Home 2’ made.its overseas premier in Doha, Qatar this year. After the.festival, our film will travel to Bahrain, Dubai, Muscat,.Canada, UK, USA and Australia too. Carmo and Simon are.our global distributers. I will be attending our screening.in Kuwait along with our lead actor John D’Silva. The.names of Carmo and Simon will always be etched in the.changing face of Konkani cinema,” says Swapnil..Armando Fernandes and Nilesh Newalkar, producers.of ‘Nirmonn – The Destiny’, are excited about the festival.and they have already received a great response with a.sold out show before the screening of the film. “We had.a successful screening of the film in Muscat on February.10, 2017 and this will be the second screening in the.Gulf. We are planning to have more screenings in Kuwait,.followed by countries like UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, UK, USA.and Australia. Carmo saw the movie last year and when.he conceptualised the idea of the film festival, he got in.touch with us. He was waiting for the right day and right.time. These two holidays in Kuwait are a great boon that.will bring in a larger number of Konkani film lovers,” says.Armando..Nilesh adds, “Carmo started planning the festival.nearly 3-4 months ago when he got in touch with us..We will be having the audio music launch of the film in.Kuwait and then the music will be available in Goa.”
