The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) came to Goa way back in 2004 with a lot of hope and fanfare. There were promises made that Goa would ultimately become a very successful home of the IFFI in some ways. Perhaps it has been so technically speaking, but has Goa itself benefited and become a big seat for film making for filmmakers and film lovers?
The idea is to understand whether this entire development of Goa as a film base has been absolutely holistic and widespread and more importantly has the local Konkani language and Marathi to a certain extent, has this genre been promoted and included in the whole ecosystem of the IFFI?
There’ll be so many other strands and branches that we will delve into, but while the IFFI is going on here and we are about to hit the landmark of 20 years. Let us see whether this whole concept and the celebration that we seem to enjoy every year with the world coming here, filmmakers and film directors coming here means anything for the local film community.
Goa has not seen the shine of the silver screen rub on it, the manner in which it was hoped. Almost every year, Konkani films get screened after there are demands that they be shown. It’s almost like a set piece that plays out annually. The Goan film industry has gained little, whether economically, culturally or even in the movie world.
Of course there are a lot of pros in it, but we will look at both the sides and perhaps the downfalls of the same. But the real question is, has the Goan film fraternity really benefited from the IFFI being hosted in the coastal State for the last 19 years?
Veteran actress Dr Meenacshi Martins said, “I have been associated with IFFI because my very first film Gauri was selected in the Panorama section in 1994. It was way back. So following that, along with my friends from FTII, have been like jumping cities you know, attending IFFI all over the place from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. And when it came to Goa, I was so happy because now it was happening in my backyard and you don’t have to travel, you don’t have to sacrifice.”
“But unfortunately the very first year I think, something went amiss and nobody remembered the artistes in Goa. So none of us were invited and we were not even allowed inside. This was in 2004. We thought that being Goan artistes, we would have an easy entry there. But we were blocked by the police. We didn’t have the knowhow of the system of going and getting invitations for yourself. You know that an artiste has some kind of self-esteem,” Martins said.
“So, the first IFFI was a little difficult for us. We had some journalist friends who were appalled to see that we were stranded outside. They took us in and we managed to see some films. I think the Goans just went on a tangent with all these delusional ideas and the grandeur of the film festival itself. First few years it was like a mela. We had nail painters outside and parrot astrologers foretelling your future, the traffic jams – it was a zatra kind of a thing,” she said.
“But we evolved and I think over the last 19 years, we have now made some sense of the original concept of what the IFFI ought to be. Though I can’t say that we have actually achieved all that, the Master Classes are a great boon for the IFFI and I think, I have personally gained a lot through the sessions,” she said.
The question now arises, has Goa itself benefited? It is not just about Konkani films, but by and large, has this ‘home of IFFI’ tag been beneficial to Goa?
Responding to the question, Laxmikant Shetgaonkar, film director, said, “Well, I really don’t think it has really helped Goa in that way. I mean in terms of finances or in terms of getting the clicks that Goa otherwise gets as a tourism destination. I think what has happened is, when IFFI came to Goa, actually he had no other place to go. Kerala already had one film festival, in Mumbai there was a festival. So, there was no space for the international film festival to start off.”
“When IFFI came to Goa, we thought there might be some kind of movement in the film culture. We thought that instead of making one or two films, probably Goan filmmakers will make eight to 10 films by the end of like 10 or 12 years. But that didn’t happen because Goa never had a film culture. As such people were not really interested in watching films. They were watching films but those were mainstream commercial films,” Shetgaonkar said.
“There was no film literacy per se. So we were thinking that probably things will change and we’ll be able to make more films. So the basic idea of the government to just have an event and keep away from the things which are of prime importance, like for example increasing the literacy for the people or having film clubs or giving support to film productions, didn’t happen. That is the reason why now people don’t associate with IFFI. That connection has to be at a very primary level,” the filmmaker said.
“When I become part of film production, I get connected to it. If I’m not connected to it, then for me it’s only an event. So now the State of IFFI is that it has become an event, where local Goans don’t feel connected to and now that can only happen if the government works on the other things, like increasing film literacy, having more film production supporting them and trying to create interest. Otherwise, IFFI will become just another event for them,” he said.
When an event like IFFI happens in your own State, on your own soil, do Goan filmmakers ever get the feeling that look, one of the reasons I’m making this film is of course it should be premiered in IFFI, it should do well in IFFI and should win awards and does that feeling occur at all?
According to Shetgaonkar, it is a very subjective thing. Some might feel that the award is very important, some might feel that reaching to the people.
“For me it’s not important. For example, if I have to make a film, I have to do it because I have to say something, I have to communicate something. I make a film and I pass it on to the people. Now, whether it is there at IFFI or in some other festival is actually immaterial because that’s not the way an artiste looks at films per se. It’s not that your appreciation is not that important. But it’s not like YouTube where you get a high because of so many views,” he said.
“In cinema, this actually doesn’t happen. We are not interested in how many views the film has got or whether people are watching it or not. The basic thing is that I have to say something, I said it and now it’s up to the audience to like it or not. So, personally no. I don’t really care for things like these,” Shetgaonkar added.
One gets the feeling that it has ultimately become just a big tamasha, in the sense that it’s become an event more than a serious film festival. Now, if that is true, then what are the reasons for it and if that is not true, then what is the reality?
Sachin Chate, film critic & teacher in his response said, “It is absolutely correct. Most of the film festivals around the world have an identity of the city. So you have a Berlin Film Festival, you have a Cannes Film Festival, the biggest festival in France, you have a Toronto Film Festival, Venice Film Festival or Busan Film Festival. They are known by the city where the event is happening.”
“Initially, IFFI was a traveling film festival. Then it was decided to give it an identity. So now it is called the International Film Festival of India, Goa. So that’s how it goes. The idea was a good one, to do something on the lines of the kind of interest that a Busan festival generates. Now, Busan started in 1996 and IFFI in 1952. So, there is no comparison in terms of time. But, now Busan has leapfrogged way ahead,” Chate said.
“There are a couple of other festivals which have come up in five or six years in Asia. One is the Pingyao International Film Festival in China and the other is the Red Sea Festival in Saudi Arabia. The Red Sea Festival is probably celebrating the fourth edition now. But yet they have already gone ahead of others because there’s a certain focus on how the festival should run,” he said.
“Getting good quality films and delegates is the primary focus. IFFI somehow in 20 years has been pretty much going round in circles, dragging along. Neither the number of delegates have increased, nor the quality of films have enhanced. The image of the festival also hasn’t become so popular that film makers would love to premiere his or her film here,” Chate said.
To make his point, he said that there are hardly any great films that are premiered here at IFFI.
“We do get films from here and there and many second tier ones, which is still good enough for a delegate because you get to see the kind of cinema, which you would not get to see otherwise. So, from that point of view, it’s a great boon for delegates. No matter what, you get 250-300 films. So there is enough to choose from every time. From a delegate’s point of view, it is okay. But has it gone to the next level? No,” he asserted.
“There are not many things one can put down on paper to say the improvements that have happened from 2004 to 2023. This is the 20th edition by the way. During Covid times, we did two editions in one year. So it is the 19th year and 20th edition. So what are the improvements if one were to put down is not much,” he said.
“Primarily the reason I would say, as Derek Malcom, who was a film critic for The Guardian, who passed away earlier this year, a regular at IFFI, had said, ‘IFFI is the only festival in the world which is run by bureaucrats’. This is absolutely true. Even at the helm of affairs you need a good administrator in place. But you need somebody who has a passion for cinema. If you go to see any film festival in the world, it is run by people who know their cinema at the back of their hands, which is not the case with IFFI and I think that’s one of the primary reasons why it is going around in circles,” he said.
Shetgaonkar added that in 2009, there was one committee which was formed under Kamal Haasan. He was the head of that committee.
“I was also fortunately part of that committee that had recommended that IFFI should be run by the film professionals and that person should be given a charge for at least 10 years so that he can decide his own team and it can be run like an independent festival,” he said.
The committee had given a report that there has to be a Secretary in Goa and there’ll be one Festival Director who will take care of all the administrative parts. There is a Festival Director there but he’s a bureaucrat and gets changed after every two years.
“Earlier the structure was, the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) used to organise the festival and Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) was the local host. There was a MoU between the two. Now DFF is out and ESG still remains the event manager. Now the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) has taken over. Being based in Mumbai, they have access to the entire Bollywood,” Shetgaonkar said.
“There is one more difference which I’ve seen. NFDC had access to Bollywood and DFF had access to a lot of south Indian people. So if you see a few years ago, there were a lot of south Indian and Bengali films. Now you can only see Hindi films because it’s Bollywood which takes the decisions. So now NFDC makes a decision, which is based in Mumbai and they have access to Bollywood,” he said.
Chate added that there is a Festival Director, but it’s always a bureaucrat who runs the show and sometimes he is changed every year.
“So in the last three years, we’ve had at least three different Festival Directors,” he said.
Shetgaonkar said that now DFF is defunct and NDFC is the whole and soul so, they will decide what is going to happen with IFFI. Now NFDC also has a Managing Director (MD), but again the MD is a bureaucrat and how he will run a film festival is a debatable issue. The idea is to have a director experienced in the international film circuit, to run the show and not a bureaucrat, who will just manage it.
Martins added that on many occasions, even earlier it was noticed that the administrators of the film festival had no direct contact with the film world.
“It is definitely the situation now. But earlier also they were just in awe of the whole world of cinema you know and they got influenced more by the popularity of certain figures. Certain things like there are so many international legends that come down here about whom they know nothing. There is no attempt made to introduce them to say students or announce their arrival or to put them up so that we can understand the whole effect, because they have no experience of cinema. Having exposure to cinema is a must,” she said.
Speaking on the whole issue of whether the IFFI has benefited Goa and the local film fraternity in its 19 years of existence here and whether the quality has improved or it has degenerated, Tapan Acharya, actor and filmmaker, said, “There have been ups and downs. Every two years, there’s a new bureaucrat who either enhances the quality or erodes it. And with that we see so many things happening. It’s the 20th edition of IFFI in Goa this year. We have seen the opening ceremony and now we are looking forward to the closing and in between the whole quality of cinema.”
“This year I feel the quality of the films selected is good, which was not the case last year. Previous to that, they were trying to have it in hybrid mode. So taking all this into consideration, I have seen the International Film Festival becoming a Bollywood Festival. I’m being precise saying Bollywood Festival not Indian Film Festival as it has been Bollywood centric. They forgot about the existence of the Goan film industry, South Indian film industry, Punjabi industry, and the North East.” Acharya said.
“This year at least there’s a blend of national and international cinema. When we say International Film Festival, then there has to be an international flavour to the cinema. Taking into consideration we the Goan film fraternity who are present here, should have a specific arena so as to showcase the whole State. We have a special section wherein there are few selected films, which they try to showcase in under a particular parameter. They try to push it out, but that’s very selective,” he said.
It goes without saying that the Government of Goa should get out of governing the film festival. It should just support the event and let the professionals take over and do what they do best. It is very important to go back to the drawing board and ensure that the proper culture of film making and film appreciation is taken to its logical level.
It is vital to encourage young talent by investing a little bit into their films made in their native language. There is a big concern that the big talent pool which is already there, will migrate to other languages and maybe other countries as well. So at the end of the day, Goa is doing itself a great disservice because if you call yourself the home of IFFI, then the home itself needs to be mended and you need to look into what are the problems existing there.
If there are cobwebs in the home, there is no point decking it up once a year and letting the world come and see it because what glitters is really not glitter, because if it’s all about showbiz, if it’s all about Bollywood, if it’s all about having parties, then of course there is a place for that. But without the basic home being clean and bright and inclusive, it becomes absolutely meaningless to have film festivals, unless the basics are covered. This is like a gospel truth, which can’t be ignored.
