No immediate proposal to shift venue of IFFI from Goa:DFF

Panaji, Nov 16 (UNI) There is no immediate proposal to shift the venue of the prestigious International Film Festival of India (IFFI) from Goa, according to director Neelima Kapoor of the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF).

''We have no immediate proposal to shift the venue from Goa. There are, however, claims by many states and counter claims. We have nothing to do with them. As of now Goa continues to be the permanent venue,'' Kapoor said.

Interacting with mediapersons here today after reviewing the preparations for the 10-day mega event beginning here on November 23, Kapoor also ruled out handing over the management of the IFFI to Goa government in due course.

To a question, she said choosing leading Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan as chief guest for inaugurating the 38th edition of the IFFI here should not be construed that the organisers were trying to make the event Bollywood centric amid protests from the South and other regional language states.

''We are not giving any lifetime achievement award to the actor in the festival,'' she quipped.

Noted Tamil actress Priya Mani and West bengal Film Maker Budhadev Das Gupta would join Khan in lighting the lamp giving representation to different states in the festival, she said.

The DFF chief maintained that more than 3000 delegates had already been registered for the festival so far with more people evincing interest in the event, the on-line registration for which was on till November 20.

About 200 films would be screened in the festival and 200 delegates from the film world would participate even as the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) was engaged in organising the film bazaar in a different way to promote fiom marketing.

The CII and the FICCI were otherwise involved in organising seminars on film marketing, she said.

This time, probably for the first time, a Georgian film may be introduced to the audience. As many as 40 films under the Cinema of the World would be screened in the festival. Pre-festival screening of the films for the media would begin from November 21 itself, she added.

Meanwhile, Ms Nandini Paliwal, CEO, Entertainment Society of Goa, the nodal agency of the government assisting the DFF in the conduct of the festival, said it may cost Rs 6-8 crore to the exchequer for organising the event as against Rs 14 crore last year.

UNI