PANJIM: After much uproar over the absence of Konkani films in the Panorama section, the 50th edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will have a special section on Goa, under which seven local films will be screened.
The decision was taken during the steering committee meeting held in New Delhi on Monday which was chaired by Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Prakash Javdekar. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was also part of the meeting.
IFFI’s golden jubilee edition will be held in Goa from November 20-28. IFFI will witness the presence of two cine icons, Amitabh Bachchan and Rajinikanth, who will attend the opening ceremony on November 20.
In a series of tweets on Tuesday, Chief Minister informed that seven Goan movies will be screened under the special Goan section during the nine day event.
The opposition, Congress and the Film Fraternity from Goa had expressed their complete displeasure and anger over absence of Konkani language films in the Indian Panorama section of IFFI. Leader of Opposition Digamber Kamat had sought Chief Minister’s intervention in the matter.
Further, Sawant said that a decision has been taken to have additional three screens of Inox theatre at Porvorim apart from Panjim, to showcase more number of movies.
“Also, an open-air auditorium with a seating capacity of around 1,600, will be set up at Miramar beach,” he said adding that several movies will be also screened at various Ravindra Bhavans.
As announced earlier, 200 films from around 76 countries and 26 feature and 15 non-feature films in the Indian Panorama section will be screened during the nine-day event.
