After painstakingly browsing through the International
Cinema and Indian Cinema catalogues to select a film to watch, the efforts of
many are going in vain as there are no seats available. After all, with 12, 700
delegates at IFFI and theatres with maximum capacity is 925 seats doesn’t sound
like a balanced equation. Here’s how the ‘system’ works. The tickets can be
booked three days in advance. If you still want to try your luck, you can stand
in queue before the screening begins. The tickets for seats booked but not
occupied are then offered to the people in queue.
For those who choose not to go the e-ticketing way, it can
turn into quite a nightmare because despite the queuing up, there’s no
guarantee that you will get a ticket. Of course, e-ticketing has issues of its
own. Says Tennyson Cardozo, “It is very difficult to get tickets at any of the
Inox counters. I stood in line for three days to get the tickets of the next
days at least, but those too were full. When I finally tried getting an
e-ticket, it turned out to be printed with the wrong movie timing. The only
theatre available with ample of seats is the Kala Academy auditorium and one
has to watch whatever is there to offer. The remaining theatres have been full
throughout the festival so far.”
The only Konkani feature film this IFFI, ‘In Search of
Mother’, was bound to go houseful, yet it was screened in the smallest theatre,
Inox IV, with a capacity of just 210 seats. The screening of films with mass
appeal should be screened at larger theatres. Master Classes too have a large
audience but due to space constraints people either have to stand in the aisles
or skip the interactions altogether.
Kevin D’Mello, an actor who has been watching films at IFFI
for the past eight years, feels that looking at the response, some films should
be repeated. “So far, I have learnt that Konkani films should be booked in
advance. You will never find an empty seat. Also, Master Classes work towards
training Konkani film students and these personalities come down to Goa only
once in a year. As such, these sessions should be held in Kala Academy so we
don’t have to miss out on the sessions due to lack of seats. A feedback book
should be maintained to see the response of the films and to repeat shows due to
public demand,” says Kevin.
