MARGAO: The Goa Forward Party (GFP) has flayed the absence of even a single Goan movie in the Golden Jubilee IFFI this year and has demanded a white paper on the functioning of the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG).
Terming the treatment of Goan artists as pathetic and pitiful, GFP Vice President (organisation) Dilip Prabhudesai has flayed the absence of a single Goan film in Golden Jubilee year celebration of IFFI.
“The main issue right now is that no Goan film is in IFFI despite this year being Golden Jubilee celebration of the coveted film festival that Goa will host,” Prabhudesai said.
“It is a great injustice to the State film fraternity. Has the Government and the Chairman of ESG forgotten the real meaning of Goenkarponn. This is a big letdown. For the last several years, there was a separate section for Goan Films,” he said.
“There are three agencies in organising IFFI, but ESG had a major say in the five sections of IFFI movies and decides which films are going to be shown. Today, ESG has practically accepted the fact that they have no say and role in actual film selection of IFFI. ESG is just reduced to travel agency and hotel agency after so many years of work and spending crores of rupees on IFFI,” he alleged.
“The quality of Goans films cannot be doubted as Amori got National Award and recognition of film fraternity of India. Even Juze got direct entry to Indian Panorama last year,” Prabhudesai pointed out.
“We demand the Chief Minister to ensure Goan films get adequate place in this year’s IFFI,” he demanded.
“ESG website has 30 or 40 objectives but hasn’t taken time to implement them at all. If ESG had followed these objectives, we would have been in paradise as far as Goan films are concerned,” he said.
He also highlighted that the ESG promised a State Entertainment Policy which is not achieved just like the 48 objectives of the organisation. “What has ESG done and is doing for films? The film finance scheme was dormant till 2018. Thereafter, some films got finances but there was favouritism. Film makers are treated like dirt in ESG, Prabhudesai complained.
