Ameya Abhyankar, CEO , Entertainment Society of Goa
(ESG) is a busy man. For, he is in the midst of the preparations
of the forthcoming 47th edition of the International Film
Festival of India (IFFI). The tidbits of information about ‘new
things’ at IFFI 2016 have raised the hopes of cine lovers and
have fuelled the excitement around this now 9-day festival.
Post having had a ‘practice round’ at playing a key role in the
organisation of IFFI last year, Abhyankar is wiser now and has
few ideas that he is looking at implementing this year.
For starters, Abhyankar takes pride in the fact that all the
tenders have been sent out well in advance, and work orders
will be issued in the next couple of days. Although Abhyankar
admits to be aggressively trying to make IFFI self-sustainable,
the task is far from easy. Abhyankar says, “There are limits to
the extent of sponsorship that we can get, because this is a
government-run festival. There is also an amount of sanctity
associated with the festival. IFFI is not about popular cinema,
but about independent and world cinema. The kind of
offering of films here is very eclectic, meant for a discerning
movie-goer. When we look for sponsors, we need to be
aware of and have respect for the core values of the festivals
and the objectives that it is trying to promote and further.
Having said that, this year we should be able to raise 20-30%
of the festival budget, out of corporate sponsorship.”
Abhyankar had recently been to the coveted Cannes
Film festival in France and has made a note of a few learning
points that can be implemented here, at IFFI. Abhyankar
says, “It is the people that make a film festival. At Cannes,
all the key decision makers in the cinema industry register
their attendance. This, in turn, pulls the entire glamour side
and all the other associated verticals to the festival. So the
atmosphere is absolutely electric and the market robust
and thriving. There are so many different networking events
happening, so much of business is happening. That is
something that we really need to strive for. Without trying to
aim at becoming a ‘Cannes’, we need to develop a festival that
has its own identity and is more attuned to our own intrinsic
ethos and needs.”
While the learning points on paper seem to be great,
implementing them in a diverse country like ours can be a
challenge. Abhyankar seems to know the way to do that,
too. He says, “There is incredible diversity and incredible
cinema coming out from small parts of India. Instead of
exclusively looking outward, we need to broad-base interest
within our market and any film market that comes out in the
future must keep this in mind. There is such a lot of interest
in cinema coming out of UP, Bihar and North-East through
small cinemas, documentary films, etc. – we need to create a
market which can explore opportunities to young filmmakers,
try and build content acquisition and distribution round local
films and channelise them. We also have a huge diaspora
around the world. This also helps them connect to their roots.
Understand issues that are trending in the places from where
they belong. I think our focus must shift a little and look at our
own market. If we are able to do that, we will create real value
for people who are interested in making cinema, viewing
cinema and acquiring and distributing cinema. So these are
challenges but they are also opportunities. This is our ticket to
building a Cannes-like festival.”
We cannot be more excited, to say the least!
