Hoping to bring the International Film Festival of India on par with those in Cannes, Berlin and Shanghai, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni has insisted that the event should be made more competitive from this year. Ms. Soni, who met officials from the Directorate of Film Festivals in this regard recently, also wanted the IFFI to become a permanent fixture in the global entertainment calendar, I&B Ministry sources told PTI on Sunday.
“We have an international festival in Goa. I think it should be on world calendar,” the sources quoted Ms. Soni as telling the meeting. The IFFI is scheduled to be held from November 23 to December 3 this year in Goa, which was selected as the permanent venue for the international event since 2004. “This year being the 40th year of IFFI, we want to raise the standard of this festival and catch up on lost time to bring it on par with that of Cannes, Berlin and Shanghai festivals,” the sources said.
This year’s IFFI would screen 26 feature films and 21 non-feature films. The meeting also finalised the schedules in the run-up to the event, according to which the jury for the contest would be approved by September and by end of that month, the films in the competitive section would be screened before the jury. Once the films are finalised, the prints would be ordered for the IFFI screening by third week of November, the sources said.
Only last year, the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), which would jointly host the IFFI. Under the MoU, ESG would provide infrastructure for the IFFI free of cost, and take care of hospitality for the delegates, including their travel. The ESG would register delegates for the festival in coordination with DFF. However, the opening and closing ceremonies of IFFI will entirely be the responsibility of the DFF.
Courtesy: Hindu
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