Cyril D’Cunha
Film buffs who enjoyed the recent 10-day International Film Festival of India, would probably wish it had been extended for a little longer. The festive atmosphere and camaraderie would have grown on them, relishing the films screened in their diversity, ranging from comedies, dramas, period presentations to even biographies.
These varied from expensive productions to the low budget ones, coming from different parts of the world, with some well-known directors and producers, including those from India, especially the regional ones.
Goa as the venue seems to have come a long way since they have been organizing such a festival for the past four years and which has been a learning curve to eliminate mistakes. Surely, there were hiccups even this year at the start, but these were quickly corrected to ensure that everything fell in place till the end. One recollects that when the first festival was staged, the film authorities demanded a lot for the state to be made a permanent venue of the Festival of India, in keeping with the facilities provided at the internationally acclaimed festivals like at Cannes, Venice and Toronto. One readily agrees that to get to the high standards of these festivals, had taken years. Goa, too, will have to be given such time, as it still lacks in such infrastructure. Besides, once this infrastructure is in place, it will have to be put to profitable use during the rest of the year. With the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Priyaranjan Das Munshi, setting at rest any doubts of Goa being the permanent venue of future festivals, Goa can now breathe easy. In fact, the fifth festival in 2008, would take place in mid-November and planning for it would have to start right away.
Shorn of the carnavalesque atmosphere of the past three years, this year it was more in keeping with the seriousness of event. Even diehard antagonists agreed. With the addition of 700 more seats, including the two new theatres at the Maquinez Palace annexe, the situation of accommodating the delegates, media and cinema aficionados without long queues was met to great satisfaction. The Inox courtyard with its few stalls, also catered to the needs of the cine goers. For the local talent, the ESG held a number of contests in lyric and film story writing, music composing, photo contests, rangoli (the one done under water was extraordinary), and the opportunity of interacting with film personalities, both Indian and foreign. Credit for this should go to the Festival Director Neelam Kapur and ESG chief Nandini Paliwal.
The jury members and the compere at the closing ceremony Kabir Bedi, did not hide their admiration for the state with ’interesting’ people. They had expectations of seeing greater participation from the film industry and better selection of films next year, to celebrate a universal spirit and a synergy that has to take roots in the capital city of Panaji.
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