The biennial Goa state film festival, organised by Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) and State Information and Publicity Department, will be held at the Kala Academy, INOX and Maquinez Palace from August 5 to 7, 2016. In its eighth year, the three-day festival is all set to entertain the audience with 12 films: nine in Konkani, two in Marathi and one Marathi short film. Sushant Khedekar, Vice- Chairman of Kala Academy and member of the Executive Council of Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), is overjoyed with the success of the Goan Film industry as more films are being produced in Goa. “The selection of the films are done on two important factors. Firstly, film has to be produced in the time frame of January 1, 2014 to January 31, 2015. Secondly, it should have a censor certificate. The 12 entries for the festival include ‘Nachomia Kumpasar’, ‘Enemy’, ‘Home Sweet Home’, ‘Home Sweet Home 2’, ‘Hanu Tu Tu Hanv’, ‘Nirmonn’, ‘MMS’, ‘Rose Tum’, Marathi films ‘Prem at First Sight’ and ‘Guru Pournima’ and the short film in Marathi – ‘The Guest’,” says Sushant. The inaugural function of the festival will be held on August 5, 2016 at 5:30pm at Kala Academy in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister of Goa, Francis D’Souza, and Vice Chairman of ESG, Damu Naik. The inaugural film for the festival is the National Award winning Konkani film directed by Bardroy Baretto, ‘Nachom-ia Kumpasar’. “After the inauguration, the cast and crew of the film will walk the red carpet and be present for the screening of the film to mark the first day of the festival,” adds Sushant. The closing ceremony will be held on August 8, 2016 in the presence of the Chief Minister of Goa, Laxmikant Parsekar. Renowned actors like Sachin Pilgaonkar, Varsha Usgaonkar and Mrinal Kulkarni will be present for the festival. “We have requested Nana Patekar to be present for the closing ceremony and hopefully, he will be there. Playback Singer Bela Shende will perform at the closing ceremony,” reveals Sushant. A four-member jury comprising Sameer Arya, Anil Gandhi, Vijay Jain and Akshay Indikar will be judging the Marathi and Konkani films, while Sugandha Lonikar, Sanjay Mone and Shrikant Karlekar will be judging the entries in the short film category. Originally from Goa, producer, writer and director Chandrashekar Narvekar, better known as N Chandra, will be awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award. The total prize money for the festival across the three categories is approximately Rs 11 lakhs. “Though there are many awards to be presented, it depends on the jury to decide whether the films actually deserve the awards in those categories. If they decide in the negative, the awards won’t be given to anyone. Awards like Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Story, Best Music Director, Best Art Director, Best Editor will feature along with many other awards,” says Sushant. The best feature film in Konkani and Marathi category will be awarded prize money of Rs 5 lakhs with the runner up entry getting Rs 3 lakhs. As the Goa State Film Festival is the only state film festival in India where movies are screened for public viewing before the results are announced, the repeat screenings will be held from August 9 to 13, 2016 at Maquinez Palace, Panjim. This will indeed be a great opportunity for film lovers to actually experience the magic of cinema before the worthy winners are awarded.
