Announcing in New Delhi the opening and the highlights of the 46th International Film Festival of India, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley said that the festival has gained in popularity amongst global cinema lovers and that the world is eagerly waiting for the curtains to rise on IFFI 2015. After having travelled the country, IFFI finally found its home in Goa and the State has turned out to be a lucky charm for the festival. It has, as the Union minister himself said, grown as one of the biggest film festivals in Asia and is creating new benchmarks of success all over the world. While that’s a mark of success against the State that has hosted 11 consecutive festivals, the question that needs to be asked is what have Panjim and Goa gained from the festival?
In the 11 years since the festival shifted it permanent home to Goa there is little that has changed for the State in terms of infrastructure that built for the festival could have added to making life easier for the residents of the city. If indeed the world is waiting for IFFI, they are also expecting a flawless organization and infrastructure that is of world class quality which should be the envy of the rest of the film festivals in the world. In the past 11 years Goa should have aimed to achieve such standards that other festivals, in India and abroad, would have wanted to copy. That hasn’t happened. The fact is that since the first IFFI in Goa, 11 years ago, there has been no change in the infrastructure for the festival that had been hurriedly created in 2004, the year that Goa hosted the first IFIFI.
The venues for the film screenings are still Kala Academy and the Inox multiplex, and the promenade between the two venues turns into a kind of fair ground where those who are not delegates at the festival can spend time eating and drinking from the stalls and come as close to the IFFI experience as is possible for them. The only change last year was that the opening and closing ceremonies were shifted to the indoor stadium at Taleigao Plateau that had been built for the Lusofonia Games. Not even the promised convention centre that would host the opening and closing ceremonies of the IFFI has come up. Work on this is yet to begin, with not even a site identified.
Infrastructure, development that this government, and every government before it, promised has not been seen in Panjim. There was hope in 2004 that the State capital would get that desperately required facelift because of IFFI. It hasn’t happened. Even the road network has not improved and with just a fortnight to go before the festival opens the crucial link between Miramar and Dona Paula remains in a state of disrepair with no chance of the road being ready anytime in the next few months. The reason – governments in Goa work at a slow pace.
Take for instance the construction of the multiplex and the renovation of the Kala Academy in 2004 that was completed just days before the film festival could begin, or the construction of the stadia for the Lusofonia Games. The games had to be postponed because the stadia were not ready. It was only when the government stepped up the pace of work that the stadia were completed in time and the games could be held two months after the first scheduled date.
Against this backdrop there can be no change expected in the conditions of the city or the State. IFFI has therefore given Goa little in return. During the period of the festival, it might boost local businesses, including hotels and restaurants, but other than that the festival has contributed little to Goa. As Goa readies to open another IFFI, it should also ensure that it does not merely play host to the festival, but take away something more than the mere status of being the permanent home of the film festival.
