Admitting that the Union I&B Ministry and the Directorate of Film Festivals has to constantly assess and improvise its planning and efforts to host the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, Additional Secretary (Information and Broadcasting), Atul Kumar Tiwari, IAS, however opined that over the last 15 years the festival has made gigantic strides to up its level and match global standards.
Speaking to The Goan, Tiwari said the festival at its permanent home in Goa has lived up to many of the expectations when the Ministry first decided to permanently shift it here but admitted that some finer aspects will have to be taken into account and necessary improvements made to not only match Cannes but even surpass it in stature.
“The common refrain of the critics that ever since IFFI shifted to Goa, commercial films and cinema have got the upper-hand at the cost of art films is an artificially created barrier,” Tiwari said, adding that world over these fault lines have got blurred due to technological advancements in film-making.
He said, teams of the DFF and the I&B Ministry have been going to festivals at Berlin, Cannes, Venice and most of the other big-named festivals across the globe and coming back with inputs which are adopted to up the level at IFFI.
Tiwari said, IFFI’s forte lay in the quality of films, both Indian and foreign, which enter the competition sections and those selected for screening through the festival.
“We lay emphasis on finalising top-notch juries. There is absolutely no interference with the working of the juries and the film selection processes,” Tiwari said, adding that the biggest names in the world of cinema are roped in to do a professional job.
“The International Jury is headed by John Bailey, the President of Oscar Academy. We also have the acclaimed Priyadarshan Nair as chairman for the Indian Panorama feature film jury. So there is no let up on the selection of films,” Tiwari said. He said, there was a need to improve the co-ordination between the DFF and the Goa government’s set-up related to the hosting of IFFI - the Entertainment Society of Goa.
“The capacity of the screening halls has improved. But Goa’s contribution in terms of raising permanent infrastructure will have to be accelerated,” Tiwari admitted.
