Proposal for bigger role in IFFI rejected
Is Goa heading for a clash with the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) over control of the International Film Festival India (IFFI)?
In a latest development, the Directorate of Film Festivals has turned down Goa’s request for bigger roles in the organisation of the forthcoming IFFI- Goa 2008.
According to Chief Secretary J P Singh the DFF has returned the draft MoU and has revised the same virtually unfavourable to Goa. It is learnt that the DFF has not accepted the State’s proposal for a greater role in programming, curating and use of its software for registration, in addition to others.
It appears that this has irked the organisers at a time when Goa is aiming to host the festival independently from 2009. While the buzz is that Goa should not succumb to DFF and should instead pull out from organising IFFI, Singh said, “We will try to negotiate and see how best we can persuade the DFF to give us more core roles.”
It is also learnt that Chief Minister Digambar Kamat may lead a delegation of governing body members of ESG to Delhi and call on the Central Ministry for Information and Broadcasting for a discussion on the issue.
So far there is no clear indication of whether Goa would pull out of organising IFFI even though ESG CEO Manoj Srivastava said, “We are in a position to host an international film festival of our own.”
The ESG is holding its governing council meeting later this week and would place the matter before its members for a final call on an action plan.
It may be noted that ESG has spent lakhs of rupees in procuring a software for ensuring foolproof registration of delegates for the film festival. This software had proved to be a success in IFFI – Goa 2007 wherein the ticketing system was applauded by most of the delegates.
The present approach of DFF has put the use of the software under question. The Goa government has also spent crores of rupees for creating infrastructure for IFFI in the last four years.
It may also be noted that 60-70 per cent of the total cost for organising IFFI is borne by Goa and ESG and the DFF approach has disillusioned the organisers.
Courtesy: Herald Goa Daily
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