BY PRATIMA ACHREKAR
Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTPi), the popular Portuguese channel will be airing their 50th episode of their documentary show Contacto Goa on April 13 and 14.

  The shows which explores various facets of Goa’s cultural heritage, history and fascinating traditions is produced by Lotus Film and TV Production headed by the talented Ms Nalini Elvino de Sousa.
While reminiscing about their journey of making documentaries Nalini says, “The entire experience of covering these documentaries was really remarkable as we focussed on a series of topics like the history , rich heritage, folkdances, cuisine, music and culture of Goa that were intriguing and interesting to our viewers. The response that we got so far has been overwhelming as 14 countries across world, including India; with a viewership of 2 million people watch the documentaries that we make. As we give them a view of Goa right into their homes, people have developed an added interest in Goa and show a keen desire to visit the state to see its traditions and places of interest”.
The episodes have also helped Goans know more about the significant places and folklore of Goa. “We even get calls from Goans suggesting various topics that they want us to feature. This response builds up my confidence and motivates me to conduct further research on new projects. We try and incorporate feedback in our work” adds Nalini.
The journey behind making a single episode is one full of difficulties that have to be faced with determination and persistence. However, the results and experiences one gets while shooting for the documentary makes everything worth it.
“My team goes through many difficulties while filming. Sometimes it so happens that the people whom we approach are reluctant to face the camera. I am grateful to all the people who have contributed in making these episodes and have shared their knowledge to the millions of people watching Contacto Goa.
So who all make up the ‘Contacto Goa’ team? Nalini enlightens, “Well, I love my team. We have our own designated work that we do. While I look after the Portuguese sub-titling, Darryl Pereira helps me translate from Konkani into English. My team consist of Prashila Achrekar, the editor (sometimes she directs the team in my absence), and camerapersons Jude Fernandes and Nuno Gilde Oiveira.
The response and appreciation received from people across the world, most of them whom the team do not even know, gives a feeling of elation.
To mark the occasion of the completion of Contacto Goa’s 50 episodes, Nalini is conducting a workshop from April 15 till May 6 Nalini reveals, “We want that students should be well-versed with style of documentary making. We will be guiding them to come up with films and their rewards would be a chance to get their documentary aired on local channels.”
“If the documentaries are really good then we will also consider approaching global television networks to air them” confirms Nalini.
The workshop will train 28 aspiring young filmmakers between the age of 14 and 17. They will learn subjects such as scriptwriting, pre-production, shooting, production and editing. On the completion of the course, the two documentaries, which will be filmed by the students, will be presented to family and friends of the students at Sunaparanta at Altinho, Panjim.
(On April 13, RTP will air a special episode which will show clips of their earlier forty nine episodes. The 50th episode of Contacto Goa will be broadcast on April 13 at 1.15 p.m. and 7 p.m. and on April 14 at 6.30 a.m. In order to thank all those who have helped make Contacto Goa a grand success, a party will be held on April 14 at Darryl Pereira’s house in Saligao, which will be followed by the screening of Contacto Goa’s 50th episode at 8 p.m.)