PANAJI: The technical sub-committee of the Expert Committee on International Film Festival of India (IFFI) has made a number of recommendations as regards technical upgradation for improving the quality of viewing experience at the mega film festival.
These recommen-dations include need for an auditorium at Margao in South Goa and a ‘Future View Point’ document for a new auditorium in the city. The sponsorship sub-committee of the Expert Committee on IFFI on the other hand has outlined measures for building brand IFFI internationally.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Expert Committee on IFFI, Mr Pritish Nandy on August 25 presented the committee’s report to the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Ms Ambika Soni. He was accompanied by the noted cinematographer, A K Bir, film director, Govind Nihalani and the writer of film-based subjects, Kishwar Desai. The other members of the committee include Kamal Haasan, Shabana Azmi, Karan Johar, Prasoon Joshi, Nandita Das, Maithili Rao, Laxmikant Shetgaonkar, C S Sapra and the Chief Secretary, Mr Sanjay Srivastava. The director of film festivals, Mr S M Khan is the member secretary of the committee.
The committee constituted at the initiative of the Minister for Information and Broadcasting was mandated to make recommendations regarding upgradation of the International Film Festival of India on the lines of other reputed international film festivals. The resultant changes based on these recommendations are to be carried out by amendment in the IFFI regulations.
The committee was also to make recommendations regarding the changes to be made in the selection of Indian Panorama films - both feature and non-feature categories - and the resultant changes are to be carried out by amendment in the Indian Panorama regulations. The key recommendation of the committee submitted for consideration mentions that the competition section may be enhanced from its present status of a specialised competition to an international competition open to all.
A recommendation has also been made to introduce two new awards in the Best Actor and Best Actress categories. The winners of these awards will be given a Silver Peacock, a certificate and a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh each. The total cash awards would now amount to Rs 90 lakh. The committee has also suggested that the final entries in the International Competition Section may be increased from the present 15 to 18. With a view to positioning the festival at par with international standards, the committee has further recommended that workshops may be held at IFFI to discuss new technological initiatives and Master Classes should be conducted by eminent people from world cinema.
As a part of the exercise, the committee had constituted four sub-committees to study issues that would enable upgradation of the festival. The four committees were technical sub-committee chaired by A K Bir, sponsorship sub-committee chaired by Ms Pooja Shetty Deora, events sub-committee chaired by Govind Nihalani and structural reforms sub-committee chaired by Mr Pritish Nandy. All the four sub-committees studied the relevant issues in detail and submitted their reports to the Expert Committee on IFFI.
The events sub-committee has proposed a series of initiatives under the aegis of New Products Platform (NPP). The committee has also recommended upgradation of the web site for IFFI on the lines of other international film festivals. It further suggested that the Film Market must be developed to international standards and provide business opportunities to Indian film makers. This sub-committee felt that international studios and sales agents should be invited for IFFI as per international norms.
The sub-committee finally recommended that in the Indian Panorama Section, the jury members should not be bound to select five films from among 20 recommended by Film Federation of India (FFI) and the Film Producers Guild and rather, they should be free to select fewer than five films, if the standards of excellence were not met in their opinion.
To enhance participation, the sub-committee recommended Q&A sessions to be held post-Indian Panorama screenings at IFFI. The sub-committee on structuring has outlined a roadmap regarding IFFI’s future structure keeping in mind its mandate and responsibilities in the coming years. After receiving the report, Ms Soni stated that the I&B Ministry would now process the recommendations made by the Expert Committee on IFFI.
