The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) has called Goa home for over two decades, transforming the State into a key player on the global film map. Initially chosen to elevate the festival’s stature, IFFI has brought attention to Goa's cultural landscape while boosting tourism and local businesses. However, its success in nurturing the State’s film industry and infrastructure remains debated, with questions around the festival’s lasting impact on regional cinema and Goa’s role as a permanent host
PANAJI
One of the principal reasons why the decision-makers opted to make Goa the permanent home for the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) back in the early years of the current millennium: To give the festival which was until then struggling to make a mark and compare with peers like Cannes, Venice or Toronto, the oomph of a seaside resort suited to 'internationalise' the event.
Today, on the cusp of yet another edition, incidentally the twenty-first being hosted in Goa, the IFFI community -- the politicians in power, the babus at the helm in the I&B Ministry's NFDC and the Goa government's Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) -- are still searching for answers as to what exactly has been achieved for the country's top-most film festival in these last two decades.
Riding on the backs of big names
The big names of international cinema who associate with the IFFI each year are one criteria used to judge the festival. In this context, the presence last year of Michael Douglas, the legendary Hollywood actor and filmmaker who was conferred the prestigious Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award, lent the festival the Hollywood punch. The added glamour of the presence and involvement of his actor-wife Catherine Zeta-Jones with the festival in 2023 certainly added value to it.
This year, the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award is being conferred on veteran Australian filmmaker Phillip Noyce known for films like Patriot Games, The Bone Collector and Salt. Noyce has worked with some of Hollywood's big stars like Harrison Ford, Angelina Jolie, Denzel Washington and Nicole Kidman.
Sources in the NFDC said much attention and research goes into picking names and handling the logistics of ensuring that the chosen international personalities of world cinema actually make it to the festival in Goa.
"After all, it is the personalities who participate that either make or break an event. IFFI is no exception," said a top official of the NDFC, adding that it will be a continuous endeavour to ensure that top-notch personalities of international cinema come.
Making IFFI accessible
The IFFI this year made a concerted effort to make all the venues accessible. People of all abilities were welcomed and a lot of thought was put into inclusivity with amenities integrated for those with special needs at all the venues.
On the programming side, too there were four screenings specially designed for delegates with disabilities. The screenings had embedded audio descriptions and provisions for sign language as well, which speaks volumes of the organisers' efforts.
Diversity is IFFI's forte
One reason that IFFI earns praise often is the choice of films and the diversity involved in it. Regional cinema and quality films picked from foreign countries have usually come in for praise.
Bengali, Odia, Assamese, Manipuri, and North Eastern dialects to Tamil, Malayalam, Punjabi, Dogri, Bhojpuri, Rajasthani, Urdu, Chattisgarhi, Konkani, Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada, and Telugu cinema, all get a platform during the nine days at IFFI.
Keeping in tune with change
Recognising the changes ensured by technology, the organisers of IFFI embraced the OTT platform medium last year and introduced a new award -- Best Web Series Award. This year it will be the second time that OTT web series will vie for honours at the festival. It recognises the excellence of the film medium on digital platforms and carries a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh.
Netflix's 'Kota Factory' by Saurabh Khanna, which tells the story of students in Kota, Rajasthan, preparing for competitive exams in India, Sameer Saxena and Amit Golani's 'Kala Pani' - again on Netflix, Sony Liv's 'Lampan' of Nipun Dharmadhikari, 'Ayali' by Muthukumar playing on Zee5 and 'Jubilee' by Vikramaditya Motwane from Amazon Prime Video are some of the nominees this year for the Web Series Award.
Has Goa done enough?
What's in it (IFFI) for Goa, has been a question on everyone's lips in this tiny State right from the time the late Manohar Parrikar successfully campaigned to get IFFI permanently to Goa in the early 2000s.
It persists even today as sceptics argue that the footfall of visitors to the State in the duration of the festival and its spin-off in terms of business for local hotels and restaurants in and around the venues in Panaji, is the only visible benefit.
On the flip side, however, the question also remains whether Goa has done enough in terms of creating infrastructure and facilities for the festival to justify becoming the "permanent venue" for IFFI.
Unfortunately, the State does not come out with flying colours. Barring some of the permanent infrastructure built like the INOX multiplex and the renovation of the old GMC Complex including the Maquinez Palace along the DB Marg, there is not much that can be counted in terms of Goa's contribution.
The biggest failure of the State is its inability to pull off the 'Convention Centre' which has been talked of as a very essential facility for IFFI right from the time the first edition was hosted by Goa. Last year, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant ended his speech at the closing ceremony with the following punchline: "We will make Goa a heaven for filmmakers."
A year later, there is no evidence of any effort from the government to achieve it and make IFFI@Goa climb the ladder of stature and be comparable to the venues of festivals in Berlin, Cannes, Toronto or Venice, the reason why Goa was chosen as its permanent venue in the first place.
Bollywood's dominance
The boisterous domination of the proceedings during the nine-day festival by Bollywood has been one of the most common criticisms attributed to what Goa has done to the festival.
This once roving festival, which travelled each year to the country's big metros and other big cities never had Bollywood behaving like 'Big Brother' the way many regional cinema buffs complain it has since coming to Goa.
Deliberately or otherwise, the organisers of IFFI in Goa have allowed the festival to increasingly get dominated by Bollywood -- its filmmakers, actors and the industry wallahs.
In fact, there has hardly been an edition hosted in Goa over the last 20-odd years where the excessive exposure to Bollywood at the festival, has not kicked up a row.
Bollywood does bring with it a 'glamour quotient' that no other Indian film industry does, but what many abhor is the space it hogs, displacing filmmakers and quality films of other genres.
The commerce of cinema: Film Bazaar
'Film Bazaar' organised by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) every year at IFFI since 2007, is a platform where financiers of films scout filmmakers, their ideas and projects.
Many say it is the most vibrant and productive module of IFFI where future business of cinema takes shape. Film Bazaar just became bigger this year with NFDC managing director, Prithul Kumar, claiming that the response has been positive and several 'big names' have come.
NFDC managed to rope in Jerome Paillard as an "advisor". Paillard in the past headed the Cannes Film Market and was instrumental in the decision-making on mentors, juries and the guest lists of marketing agents and producers from across the world.
