IFFI 52, 051: Towards better IFFIs What makes a good international film festival? Some criteria. Good international films Good Indian films Good scheduling Good international participation Good fringe events Good ‘festival’/festivities Good venues, with good projection Good budget Good (long-term) independent directors and heads of departments Good and early planning Quality of films selected is a reflection of the ...

        IFFI 52, 034: Some competition films not competitive, below par When you have already attended 44 IFFIs, you pretty much know what to expect. Or do you? Arriving from Mumbai by train on the 20th morning, the day of the inauguration, I found my usual hotel in an unkempt state. The owner, who had a flat there till some years ago, has let it sink into squalor, but critics like me, who fund all own expenses at IFFI, cannot really complain. A couple of hours later, after...

IFFI 51, 16-24 January 2021, 15: Terms and conditions applied Media accreditation came on the 29th of December, a mere 18 days before the festival. Those who had not booked travel tickets and not made hotel reservations must have been severely inconvenienced. Luckily, I had made my bookings in anticipation, and that was a bonus. This is the email we received on the 16th of January, the day the festival was inaugurated: “Welcome to the 51st International Film Festival of India, Goa. W...

IFFI 50: Awry scheduling When you are holding a competitive festival, the films in the Competition Section are the most important items in your showcase. Fill-buffs wait with bated breath to see who wins the awards at the closing function, which is scheduled at IFFI a full eight days after the inauguration. So, the suspense lasts eight days. In those eight days, if your interest is in the best of contemporary cinema, you make your own guesses, and compare your bests with the Jury’s ver...

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: Complexities of the complex As a film festival that wants to vie with the best in the world, the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) needs a regular festival complex. It does not have one. IFFI moved to Panaji, Goa, in 2004, a good 15 years ago. To facilitate this move from Delhi to Goa, the then Chief Minister, late Manohar Parrikar, leased out land to the INOX group of multiplexes, and a four screen cinema hall was built in a record 100 days. The Goa government also acquire...

IFFI 50: A.K. Bir, chairing IFFI’s Technical Committee for over 12 years To enjoy a film in the way the maker meant it to be enjoyed is a blessing. We, who are attending the 50th International Film Festival of India, Panaji, Goa, know how important it is to enjoy a film in the right ambience. A small error, and the joy could be ruined. To make sure no such thing happens, IFFI has a Technical Committee in place, headed by A.K. Bir, himself a renowned cinematographer, screen-writer and fi...

16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival opens in Mumbai on 21 December Prabhat Chitra Mandal, one of India’s oldest and most active film societies that is celebrating its golden jubilee this year, in collaboration with P.L. Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Academy, is holding its 16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival in Mumbai, supported by the Department of Culture, Government of Maharashtra. The festival will be inaugurated on Thursday, the 21st of December, 2117. The inauguration will be followed ...

IFFI Goa 2017, XII: Winners’ List, and a few regrets It was an evening of regret. At the closing ceremony of the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which concluded in Panaji, Goa on November 28, six films/directors made it to the top, of which I had seen only 30% of one, the only one to win two prizes. Why I did not see the others, and why only 30% of a particular one will be explained below. But first, the LIST. Films  (In absentia) 1. Morocco-born French Directo...

IFFI Goa 2015, Festival Diary, XI: PornograIFFI Highly erotic content is not unusual at IFFI, or, for that matter, any international film festival. But pornography? That’s not so common. Many years ago, there was a film based on the life of a porn-star, with several close-ups of her inspecting the sexual organs of the men she was to choose from, based on the appearance of their manhood, who would be paired with her in the scenes to be shot. More recently, we had Lars von Trier’s m...