IFFI 50: Those were the days International Film Festival of India (IFFI) at 50 is a shortened, dry and sanitised version of what it used to be, till about a decade ago. The powers that be realised those days that a film festival should not be a rushed affair as far as film viewings go, and a film festival is a festival too. Film personalities, who travel up to 20,000 kms, to be at the event, deserve to be entertained and looked after, in real Indian hospitality style. Festivities were not con...

IFFI 50: Media matters In an event like the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), the media matters. The event is organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Central Government of India, in partnership with the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), a Goa Government initiative, with the Chief Minister of Goa being the Chairman of the body. Together, they spent over Rs. 40 crore (400 million) on IFFI 50, Panaji, Goa, November 20-28, 2019. This ...

IFFI 50: Opening highlights A star-studded opening hosted the King of Bollywood Amitabh Bachchan, and legendary Rajinikanth, who flagged off the extravaganza at the Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium, Bambolim, Goa, on 20th November. Official dignitaries present at the launch of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2019 were Honourable Information and Broadcasting (I & B) Minister in the Central Government, Prakash Javdekar, Honourable Chief Minister of Goa, Dr. Pramod Sawan...

IFFI 2018, VII: What it was and what it could have been In its 49th edition, the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) was a damp squib. It could have been a glorious run-up to the 50th edition celebrations next year; instead, we had many disgruntled delegates and media-persons and serious mismanagement. In fact, many regulars decided to give the fest a miss this year, making me wonder whether they had a premonition that it would be so dull. Here are 25 observations that need to be loo...

IFFI Goa 2017, VIII: Message of Sunit Tandon, Festival Director In the run-up to the International Film Festival of India, Panaji, Goa, November 20-28, I continue to monitor the news and developments. Here’s one link I found: http://iffigoa.org/indian-cinema-catalogue-2017/ At the bottom is a button called Download. When you click on it, you get: Sorry! Page not Found Back To Home However, on the second link, found right next to the above link, http://iffigoa.org/international-cin...

IFFI Goa 2017, III: Three organisations, two lists and we are still clueless Attempts at getting any current information about the organising or the content of the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), 20-28 November, 2017, Panaji, Goa, have met with no success. In this context, the confirmation of my accreditation (and I hope that of many others qualifying journalists, critics and photographers who had applied) has been received by email, a month after applying. That said, here i...

by Siraj Syed June through December is film festival season in India. G5A flagged it off, running though June and July, followed by Jagran in September. October is for MAMI and November for IFFI. The year will end with the Third Eye Asian Film Festival. Of course, these are in addition to many smaller festivals, organised by Consular missions and cultural organisations. IFFI stands for the International Film Festival of India, the only state-sponsored event, held annually in Goa. Some years ...