Goa DocuFest Kicks off, "The Little Terrorist" screened

Panaji, Apr 28 (UNI) The Goa International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films kicked off to a colourful start here today with the screening of the "The Little Terrorist", the 15-minute Oscar nominee, directed by Aswin Kumar of India.

It was followed by the 70-minute Bulgarian film "Whose is this Song?" by Adela Peeva.

Government chief secretary J P Singh inaugurated the festival in the presence of actress Isha Kopikar and noted producer Pankaj Parashar at Dinanath Mangeshkar Auditorium of the Kala Academy, which has been the permanent venue of the 'International Film Festival of India' since 2004.

The 5-day Docufest is being organised by the Films Division of the Government of India in collaboration with the Kala Academy of Goa and the state Directorate of Information and Publicity to promote film culture in a big way in the island state.

The chief secretary honoured film communicator Prof Les Menezes and noted film editor V Naik in this connection.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Singh said Goa planned to open a "Film City" on the lines of Ramoji Film City of Hyderabad on a 140 acre site in the state Capital on the Build Operate and Transfer basis.

The expression of interst for this film city will be floated immediately after June 2 elections.

The Docufest will become a permanent feature in Goa from the next year, as the government is keen to encourage more festivals like this to promote film culture in the island state. The infrastructure facilities will be strengthened as Goa continues to be the permanent venue for IFFI.

He also mentioned the scheme introduced recently to assist film producers of Goa that encourages local talent.The government has cleared 21 proposals out of 42, it had received under the scheme.

He also said that Goa was keen to propel animation industry so that state becomes a hub for film makers.

Chief Producer Kuldeep Sinha of the Films Division, Government of India, said the festival will showcase 75 films over 32 hours duration from 26 countries.

19 award-winning films of Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF), nine award winning animation films, and 22 Best of Films Division films have been included, out of which a few based on Goa.

A package of 25 films made by Goans in Konkani, Marathi and other languages that have been shot in Goa will also be screened.

The film ''A Seaside, Story'' directed by Laxman Shetgaonkar of Goa that won Golden Conch and Rs 1.5 lakh award as the ''Best Fiction Film'' at MIFF-2004, is also included in the screening schedule.

UNI