Over the course of its existence, the Goa State Film Festival has become an event that
filmmakers look forward to as a platform where they can compete with Goa’s best
and also a means of receiving recognition from the state. In promotion and
celebration of Goan cinema, the Department of Information and Publicity,
Government of Goa in collaboration with the Entertainment Society of Goa will
hold the 9th edition of the Goa State Film Festival, scheduled from May 3 to 6,
2018, at Maquinez Palace, Panjim.
Held once every two years, the Goa State Film Festival gives
Goan artistes, producers and directors the opportunity to showcase and
orchestrate their professional excellence in the field of cinema. ESG, being
the nodal body in conducting entertainment programs, seeks to provide a
platform to nurture talent in the field of entertainment, and help people gain
recognition in their field of expertise.
Speaking about the film-entries in this year’s edition of the
festival, Rajendra Talak, Vice Chairman of ESG, says, “Films made between
January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2017 were eligible for this festival. In
total, we received 10 feature films, including nine Konkani films and one
Marathi film and two non-feature films.” “The jury for the feature film section
included Girish Kasaravalli as Chairman, Pratima Kulkarni, Ashok Patki and
Meenakshi Shedde. The jury for non-feature section included Dhritiman
Chatterjee as Chairman, Amrit Pritam Dutta and Spandan Banerjee,” he adds. The
films will be screened at Maquinez Palace, in Auditoriums 1 and 2, and the
screenings will be open to the public on first-come-first-serve basis.
The festival will commence with an inaugural function, held on
Thursday, May 3 at 5pm at Maquinez Palace (Auditorium 1). The official function
will be followed by the screening of the award-winning film ‘K Sera Sera’ that
made waves in 2017, in the INOX multiplex screen 1. Over the next three days,
the festival will involve the screening of the various film-entries in Maquinez
Palace, as well as musical shows and other entertainment, food and much more.
On Day 1, ‘K Sera Sera’ will be followed by the first of the
feature film-entries ‘Martin’. Day 2 will see a full day of screenings,
beginning at 12 pm, including the feature films ‘Big Ben’, ‘Connection’,
‘Mahaprayan’ and ‘War Onn’, and the non-feature films ‘Plastic Dhoti’ and ‘Aaba
Aikta Naa’. On Day 3, the screenings will begin at 11 am with ‘Mogan’, followed
by ‘Mogan Tujya’ at 1:30 pm. And finally, the screenings on Day 4 will begin at
10 am and will include re-runs of the two non-feature film-entries, followed by
feature films, ‘Disha’ (the only entry in Marathi) and ‘Soul Curry’.
The
festival will culminate with a final award ceremony to be held on Sunday, May 6
at 5 pm at Maquinez Palace, at which time various awards will be presented to
the winning films. There are 21 award categories in the feature film section
including Best film (first) which carries a prize of Rs 5 lakhs, Best film
(second) with a prize of Rs 3 lakhs, Best direction – first place with a prize
of Rs 50,000 and second place – Rs 35,000, as well as a number of individual
awards carrying prizes of Rs 25,000 each. In the non-feature film section,
award categories include Best Fiction Film and Best Non Fiction Film with
prizes of Rs 1 lakh each, as well as four other awards of Rs 25,000 each.
Finally, the prize for Best Film is Rs 20,000. The award function will be
followed by the screening of the winner of Best Film of the festival.
