THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2024
Team Herald
PANJIM: The opening and closing Ceremony of the 51st edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), scheduled to be held from January 16-24 next year, will be held at Kala Academy. Until last year, the ceremonies were held at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee stadium, Dona Paula.
The Steering committee of the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), the nodal agency for hosting IFFI in the State along with Directorate of Film Festival (DFF), held its meeting on Thursday.
Speaking to media persons post meeting, ESG Vice-Chairman Subhash Phaldesai said that as announced by the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javdekar, IFFI will be held next year from January 16 to 24 in a hybrid format that will be both virtual and physical.
“However, DFF is yet to share details with us on hybrid format,” Phaldesai said.
He added that the decision has been taken to host the Opening and Closing Ceremony at Kala Academy with restricted guests. “The ceremonies will be held as always with entertainment programmes and awards,” he said.
All COVID-related protocols will be strictly enforced in accordance with festivals convened recently in the international film festival circuit, Phaldesai said.
Moreover, all the cultural activities and events that are usually held outside the festival premises, attracting huge crowd during the nine-day event, stands cancelled, for now. “But, we will review the COVID situation in later phases when it comes to taking a call on putting up screens in public places and other events,” he said.
Phaldesai informed that for the upcoming festival, there would be restrictions on the number of delegates and guests and that ESG is awaiting directions from Central government.
The festival was annually held from November 20-28, however, in view of current pandemic, the event has been postponed. Goa hosts over 10,000 delegates, including film fraternity members from India and foreign countries.
