It is good news for Goan cinephiles and
filmmakers. The Department of Information and Publicity and Entertainment
Society of Goa (ESG) is reviving the Goa State Film Festival which is going to
be held in Panjim from April 2 to 5, 2015. As many as 25-odd Goan feature and
non-feature films films in Marathi and Konkani are going to be screened at the
festival. Also, prizes for excellence in various departments such as Acting,
Story, Screenplay, Direction, Audiography and Cinematography are going to be
given to the winners.
Popular Goan filmmaker, Rajendra Talak
whose three films – A Rainy Day, O Maria and Saawariya.com will be featured in
the festival, says, “The Goa State Film Festival is happening after a long gap.
The reasons for this could be many but the main one is perhaps because there
weren’t many films being produced in Goa. Now, Goan filmmakers have started
making films in large numbers, some even without the help of the government. In
the first edition of the festival, there were only 4 films; now, there are
about 25. It’s a good thing that the government is reviving this festival. This
will definitely help all the Goan filmmakers and actors and it looks like a
positive change is about to come.”
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Vice Chairman of ESG, Damu Naik, whose
production, Jaagor is one of the films to be screened at the festival, says,
“The last edition of the festival was held in 2008 which featured films made in
2007. So now, we will be featuring films that have been made from 2008 till
now. It is the right moment for the Goan film industry to flourish. In the last
11 months we have held various film festivals in Goa like European Film
Festival, Asian Film Festival, Children’s Film Festival apart from the biggest
of them all, the International Film Festival of India. Statistics show that in
2012-13, seven Goan films were produced. This just shows that people are now
serious about making films in Goa. Filmmakers are now putting in efforts and
money and the industry is growing.”
