TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: After 10 years of uncertainty, Goa has been declared as the permanent venue for the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which was shifted to the State from Delhi. This year the festival will be held from November 20 to 30.
Entertainment Society of Goa’s (ESG) recently appointed Vice Chairman Damu Naik announcing this said that the opening and closing ceremonies would be held at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee indoor stadium, Taleigao, this year. The stadium, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently addressed a large gathering, has a capacity to accommodate over 9,000 people.
“In a meeting on June 10 with the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Chief Minister (Manohar Parrikar) discussed the long-pending demand for making Goa a permanent venue for IFFI. It has been accepted and we have received an official confirmation,” he said.
Repeating BJP’s Lok Sabha election jingle ‘Ache Din Aane Wale Hai’, Naik further said that henceforth the State will not have to sign Memorandum of Understanding, for hosting the 10-day long festival. The festival dates have been fixed from November 20-30 every year.
Naik said they have already begun preparations for this year’s festival even as infrastructure such as a convention hall, big cinema halls and other facilities for the festival will shortly be set up. “Even at the time when the State was not declared a permanent venue, the State would begin preparations for the festival well in advance,” he added.
Goa has been hosting IFFI since 2004 amidst demand from various sectors including Kerala filmmakers to shift the venue outside Goa. Goan filmmakers, film producers association were amongst those demanding to shift the venue arguing that the State government should stop wasteful expenditure on IFFI and instead concentrate on local film industry. To a question on the financial scheme for local film makers, the vice chairman replied that the draft is in its final stage.
