The Entertainment Society of Goa in association with the Department of Public Health Dentistry, Goa Dental College and Hospital commemorated ‘THE WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY’ by organizing ‘4th Goa Anti Tobacco Film Festival’ on Tuesday.
There were nineteen entries for the festival with ten in the Goan section and nine in the national section. The competition was held in two sections, National section ad films and Goan section ad films. The short films were made on last year’s theme ‘Commit to Quit’. The festival could not be held for two years due to the pandemic. The theme this year was ‘Tobacco threat to the environment’.
The three members Jury committee comprised Dr Kedar Raikar, NCDC Nodal Officer, Dr Ivy Coutinho, Professor, Department of Prosthodontics, Goa Dental College and Hospital and Sachin Chatte, film critic who judged all the entries.
The winners in the national section were ‘Yes I Can’ by Satish R. Gaonkar who was awarded prize money of Rs 1 lakh. His film also won the first prize under Goa section, constituting of Rs 50,000 as prize money. The second place with a cash prize of Rs. 50,000 by ‘Voice of Innocence’ – Sunil H. Naik and the third place with a prize of Rs. 30000 went to ‘Mukhagni’ by Kedar K. Manerikar.
In the Goa section, the second place with a prize money of Rs 30,000 was awarded to ‘Carbon Copy’ by Siddhi Upadhye and the third prize of Rs. 20,000 for ‘Inhale’ by Runal Kolkankar.
Earlier, Dr Amita Kenkre Kamat of Goa Dental college welcomed all the Guests and also briefed the purpose of this festival, said the aim of the Anti Tobacco Film Festival was to spread the message of harmful or ill effects of tobacco use and also to decrease the occurrence of Oral Cancer in Goa. She also thanked the participants and audience present.
Consulting oncologist Dr Shekhar Salkar said, “Law should be strict to decrease the use of Tobacco. Cinema is a powerful medium through which audience grasp maximum and it has a big Impact and people have become aware of the ill effect of tobacco”.
He pointed that India was losing eight crore trees every year to ensure enough of tobacco was made for the smokers in the country. Dr Salkar also suggested the government should give the tobacco companies a timeframe to shut down tobaacco business and move to new ventures.
Dr. Geeta Kakodkar spoke about what the DHS is contributing to prevent the use of tobacco. She also said that these films will be used for promotions of ad campaigns of Anti Tobacco in cinema theatres across Goa, TV channels, schools, colleges and other government department programs. She pointed that from the age of twelve, many started smoking and usually moved on to other drugs.
The winners received their awards from Dr. Geeta Kakodkar, Dr. Shekhar Salkar, Ida de Norohna de Ataide and Director of Industries, Trade and Commerce, Swetika Sachan. The award winning films were screened for the public.
Tobacco threat to the environment theme for this year.
