New Delhi: The first ever “hybrid” 51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa next month will see delegates from all across the world viewing some selected films virtually on a live video platform.
The Narendra Modi government will be hiring services of one or more private firms to set up the platform for the festival scheduled between 16-24 January.
BECIL, a PSU under the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry, had invited bids from private firms for designing and creating the live video platform on which the delegates can view the films. The last date of submitting applications was 24 December. It is not known yet how many firms have responded to the tender.
Under this new hybrid model of organising IFFI — a first in the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic — the prestigious film festival would mostly be held virtually, but the opening and closing ceremonies would be held with a smaller audience in Goa.
Select theatres in Goa will also screen some films during the festival for some delegates, who would attend the event.
Also read: YouTube to host world’s biggest film festivals in 10-day streaming event
‘Viewing films online may not be able to capture IFFI’s spirit’
Veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal told ThePrint the spirit of the festival would not quite be the same this year given that a major part of it would be held online.
“It will be a huge difference. The whole idea is when you have a festival, it’s a gathering of people. But this time, everyone will be dispersed,” he said.
“The films are accessible to you, but the festival is a community affair. It’s meeting new people, discussing new ideas about films and about buying and selling films for filmmakers. It’s a market and an occasion that happens once a year,” he said, adding that viewing films online may not be able to capture the spirit of the festival.
Top government sources told ThePrint the budget of the festival is likely to get reduced to half of what it was last year.
“While the budget for the film festival was estimated at Rs 24 crore, in actual, around Rs 13 crore was spent on organising the event,” a senior government official told ThePrint.
The platform
Senior government officials told ThePrint the unique virtual platform will also be used for conducting various masterclasses and webinars, which are part of the film festival. This virtual hosting platform will used for all the eight days of the festival.
It will also have separate interactive models for registrations, auditoriums, and workshops. The audience can register and get a username and password and use that to log into any of the three auditoriums virtually — each of them will be hosting different events.
While the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) — a media unit under the I&B Ministry — is responsible for organising IFFI and several other film festivals, the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) is the nodal agency that executes IFFI on behalf of Government of Goa.
The union cabinet had recently approved the merger of DFF, along with three other media units, with the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), a PSU under the I&B Ministry.
Earlier, this month, the ESG has also invited an e-tender for appointing an agency for event management and public relations for the IFFI.
Registrations for the film festival will take place on a first-come-first serve basis in a bid to limit the number of participants keeping in view the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.
A total of 224 films will be screened at the IFFI this year from across the globe. This includes 21 non-feature films and 26 feature films under the Indian Panorama films section.
An official line up of the films, however, has still not been released, including the opening and closing films of the festival.
Also read: Film development council to host online patriotic film festival from 7 August