<The proposal to make Goa a permanent venue for the festival had been initiated by BJP's Sushma Swaraj when she headed the I&B Ministry. Today, the former chief minister of Goa and leader of opposition, Manohar Parrikar in a press conference has stated that the current festival is a "flop show." > [http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1856255,00110003.htm]
I am afraid Parrikar has to take a substantial part of the blame for the present state of affairs regarding IFFI. He went hammer and tongs at putting in transport infrastructure (bridges, roads, lighting etc etc) and neglected the film side of things (except for Kala Academy and Inox). In retrospect it seems IFFI was practically in a coma when it headed for Goa and a slow and deliberate start here would have done the trick to revive it. Instead the chaos pattern was set that year itself. All the Mickey Mouse stuff didnt need to be unleashed on an unsuspecting public from Day One. It could have been gradually added, one episode to the next as experience was gained and comfort levels increased. Now it occupies so much of the time of the organisers that they are making a hash of the core film side of the festival. Even worse, it will be very hard to delete the irrelevant and unwanted activities as there must be a vested interest in them by now. Parrikar throttled the moves of the incumbent theatre owners to upgrade their facilities for the first IFFI Goa on political grounds. Now he is heard complaining that "no capacity has been added"! And he bemoans the "lack of management". The guy is talking through his hat. Phil Thomas Goa ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Goanet supports BMX, the alumni network of Britto's, St Mary's and Xavier's -- three prominent institutions in Mapusa, Goa. Events scheduled from Dec 16 to 21, 2006 For more details visit http://www.bmxgoa.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------
