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on 2007/7/26 6:16:37
The film industry has had enough. This year, it has announced that unless major changes are made by the organisers of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI, scheduled to be held between November 23 and December 3), it will boycott the festival. The primary demand is that the venue be shifted from Goa. Irked by the lack of infrastructure, which has not improved over three years, the film industry has threatened to boycott it.
In a letter written to Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, the Film Federation of India (FFI) has stated that at the recent annual general body meeting that a unanimous decision has been taken to put all its might behind the ouster of Goa as the venue for the international film festival of India (IFFI). "The world recognises this festival as definitive film festival, but for the last three years, ever since the festival has been shifted to Goa, the film industry has been treated like a pariah," the letter said.
"An example of the organisers' bad attitude include instances like veteran producers like Shakti Samanta and D Rama Naidu being asked to 'prove their credentials'. They were also asked to name which films they had made," the letter also said.
The neglect and 'unfriendly' attitude that the industry has experienced since the festival shifted to Goa may have ignited this movement. Last year, for the inaugural function, the Hindi film industry was allocated only 225 seats out of the total capacity of 5000 seats. Another allegation goes that the officials were mostly greenhorns, with scant knowledge on Indian cinema. They invariably make mistakes during the registration of names and the issuing of passes.
Since India's reputation is at stake at this international gathering, the confusion that prevails here makes the Indian film industry a laughing stock before the world, feels FFI.
Incidentally, the FFI is vice-president of the world body of film producers which grants permission to conduct festivals as per the rules, including the rule that no film entered in the fete should be censored.
For the last 30 years, there was good co-ordination between the FFI and the festival authorities. The shifting of venue to Goa has changed this. Last year, no accommodation was provided to film technicians who attend the festival regularly every year, from all over India.
The film industry is also irked by the heavy tax on censorship fees as a result of which small and medium budget Hindi filmmakers and regional filmmakers are finding it difficult to pay the fees for censoring their films. For instance filmmakers who used to pay Rs 3000-odd for a 4,800-metre film, now have to shell out Rs 14,000.
mumbai news
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