The superstar had been billed to grace the occasion, but some niggling health issues had built suspense over his arrival. Had he not come, it would have been some glitter rubbed off the festival. But come he did, and the golden jubilee edition of the festival was thrown open at the makeshift venue that has been hosting the opening and closing ceremonies for the past few years. The festival hasn’t yet got its own venue, and the Kala Academy, that iconic structure that has been playing host to the IFFI since 2014, has been resurrected to screen films and its premises and facilities utilised during the festival. For the golden jubilee edition of IFFI, it was back to normal for the festival and for Goa.
As the festival achieves a milestone, it receives its fair share of rave reviews, while also getting panned by many others. One aspect though cannot be taken away from it, the festival draws the crowds. It may not bring too may of the stars of the silver screen – only those invited make an appearance – but it gets delegates from across the country and a few from overseas. In a world where movies – the choice of them – can be watched on the internet, that a film festival still draws crowds, is in itself a great positive review for IFFI. That is the power of films, they still draw the crowds. The number of delegates has not diminished over the years, it was announced that there has been an increase,and the last minute decision to have screenigns at Kala Academy will help another thousand delegates watch the films.
While Panjim has got its annual sprucing up for the festival, with medians of the main roads painted and the décor propped up on the streets gleaming in fresh colours that are yet to get faded with the sun, there is nothing gleaming of the rest of the city, where garbage lies littered and the roads remain dusty and jammed with traffic. The normal buzz that surrounds a festival such as this was missing, and it indicates that in Goa, IFFI no longer creates on its own the atmosphere of the early years when it was held in Panjim. It now requires human intervention to escalate publicity.
The State government will be spending around Rs 18 crore on IFFI, of which Rs 5.5 crore is expected to be raised through sponsorships, which would then offset the financial burden on the government. This is what the vice chairman of the Entertainment Society of Goa, the nodal office for the festival logistics, said earlier. However, Rs 5.5 crore out of Rs 18 crore does not amount to even 33 per cent of the total expenditure. This being an international festival, the show piece of film festivals in the country, why can’t the money raised through sponsorships be much higher, perhaps even enough to meet all the expenses? Consdering that this is a business event, and is in its golden jubilee edition, it should by now have been paying for itself.
At the inaugural, the Chief Minister announced that Goa would be promoted as an important destination for film shooting, where the industry would be provided with a ‘complete experience’ of film making, where film tourism would be promoted in the State. Sadly, earlier this year there erupted a controversy when no Konkani film was slated to be screened at the festival. IFFI is yet to have any seamless organisation, and there will always be some controversy. But then, the golden jubilee edition has just started, it will perhaps glitter brightly in the days ahead, as the screenings get going.
