Yet another edition, incidentally a milestone twentieth in Goa, of the International Film Festival of India got done and dusted earlier in the week.
While the organisers -- I&B Ministry's Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) and the Goa government's Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) -- will want to count it as a "success" there are others who are of the opinion that it still has a long way to go before it can attain a stature parallel to other festivals like Cannes or Venice.
IFFI this year though has had its share of high-points and some controversies as well most notably centred around Michael Douglas, the legendary Hollywood actor and filmmaker who was conferred the prestigious Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award.
Douglas's presence and involvement, alongwith with that of his actor-wife Catherine Zeta-Jones at the IFFI this year for sure elevated its stature a notch. The actor showered genuine praise on some aspects of Indian cinema, dwelling substantially on the exploits and legacy of India's most famous filmmaker Satyajit Ray.
But there were also some not so savoury moments linked to the Hollywood icon as well. The shabby fare dished out by the host at Douglas' 'masterclass' for one.
Accessibility praiseworthy
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.
Diverse cinema
One of the salient features of IFFI has been the diversity in the film selection with significant space for regional cinema as well as those in foreign languages.
This year it also made efforts to highlight the prowess of 40 women filmmakers in a bid to promote gender-equality and provide fair representation at the festival.
As for regional cinema, 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 had their share of the space through the nine-day festival.
Keeping with the times
With the rise of OTT platforms beginning a disruption of sorts in the world of cinema globally, IFFI too made an effort to keep with the times by introducing the Best Web Series (OTT) Award for the first time this year. It was a decision which sent a message that IFFI has the will to evolve and include the alternative digital platforms. As many as 15 OTT platforms participated which is creditable.
Fare for the kids
Screened across the IFFI venues this year were five films which were presented in collaboration with the UNICEF. These films reflected on the forces that shape childhood.
The collaboration between UNICEF and the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) was an attempt to get the film industry and the audiences at IFF to focus on children's rights.
These five films dealt with the issue of portrayal of violence against kids and adolescents in films.
The UNICEF said, that IFFI was a platform which enabled the global children's body to reach filmmakers, artistes, critics and general audiences and get their attention to issues of children's rights and making violence against them socially unacceptable.
'Damu' directed by Raja Sen; 'For the Sake of Ava' by Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Seraji; Gandhi & Co which had won the national award this year for the Best Children's Film, Sinhalese film 'Peacock Lament' and Persian film 'Singo', directed by Alireza Mohammadi Rouzbahany were the five films presented at IFFI through the UNICEF-NFDC collaboration..
The commerce of cinema: Film Bazaar
Like every year, this year too the parallel 'Film Bazaar' organised by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), manifested the evolution of IFFI.
Introduced in 2007, the 'film bazaar' offers a platform for budding filmmakers and even those aspiring to be one, to throw their ideas and projects for the consideration of producers, financers and even big production banners.
As one critic covering the festival put it: "It (film bazaar) is the most vibrant, productive part of the festival." It is where future business of cinema is being stitched either by established filmmakers, those aspiring to be filmmakers, financial managers in the industry among sundry others".
