*From: Juino De Souza,* *JB VILLA, Park Street, *
*B.B. Borkar Road**, Alto Porvorim- Goa* *Mob: 9923133412* * * *25th November 2011* * * *To;* *The Goanet members* * * * * *Church diverted the issue by appealing to wrong authorities to change IFFI dates* *By* *Juino De Souza* It is surprising to read that the Catholic Church in Goa has appealed to the International Federation of Film Producers Association (FIAPF) and to the Film Federation of India (FFI) to ensure that IFFI does not coincide with the novena and feast of St. Francis Xavier from next year. The question is why next year and not this year? Who has seen the next year and whether the same congress government who are against changing the dates of IFFI will be voted to power in the ensuing elections? Yes! The closing date if IFFI can definitely be advanced to 2nd December if there is a political will. Can we allow the hard work and efforts of hundreds of lay catholic individuals and several groups including *Save Old GOA Action Committee* who actively participated in the campaign and had even staging demonstrations and waving black flags on the opening day of IFFI to go wasted? The Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat was all along willing to consider the request from the next year onwards and which was known to the community, then of what purpose does the Church announcement SERVE?? Surely the Catholic community has been let down by such a weak statement coming from the Archdiocese of Goa The community was confident that they were not alone in the battle and that the church will offer total and complete support, then why the sudden turnaround? The deeper question is: Who is responsible for influencing the Church? Which are these powerful political bigwigs who have succeeded in exerting pressure? This deserves to be probed. The issue here is serious and needs to be trashed openly and without reservation primarily because it concerns ‘Catholic Sentiments’ as St.Francis is the patron saint of Goa and called by all Goans as "Goencho Saib" Clearly the Church has tried to divert the issue by making an appeal to the wrong authorities viz the FIAPF and FFI when both these bodies have no role to play in fixing the dates for IFFI. We are all aware that IFFI programme schedule is decided by the Director, Directorate of Film Festivals,* *Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Govt. of India in consultation with Government of Goa, (ESG Panaji) and not by any other body. A MOU is always signed each year between these parties at the beginning of IFFI, further the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Smt. Ambika Soni in order to set a new paradigm to the festival had set up of an Expert Committee in 2009 which also does not carry the name of a single international representative. The FIAPF based in Paris is purely an organization composed of member associations from leading audiovisual production countries and helps producers formulate policies and coordinate action in key areas such as Copyright and related intellectual property rights' legislation, Enforcement of IPR legislation and anti-piracy action, Deployment of digital technologies and their impact on the audiovisual value chain, Technology standardization process, Media regulation, Private and public sector film financing mechanisms and Trade-related issues is therefore in charge of supervising international film festivals to that extent. The FFI which is a member of FIAPF is an apex body of the Indian producers (around 18,000), distributors (around 20,000), exhibitors (around 12,000) and studio owners, headquartered in Mumbai. Irrespective of the Church directives if the government fails to change the dates immediately, the Catholics will have no option but to show unity in action through the power of the ballot. Juino De Souza (The writer is a lawyer, author, TV host and social activist based in Porvorim) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---------------------------------------------------------------------------