IFFI 52, 052: Veterans not allowed to contribute Among International Film Festival of India (IFFI)’s regular attendees, one man claims that he attended the first ever IFFI, held in 1952, as a 16 year-old. I am not aware whether there was any age restriction back in 1952, but for several decades since then, you cannot attend an IFFI unless you are 18 years old. He was there at IFFI 52, 2021, too. That would make him 85 years old. He confesses he missed out on two IFFIs, but has attended ...

IFFI 52, 046: The urge to merge – DFF, two other units, to become part of NFDC Students of Business Administration, Management and Public Relations are taught about the reasons, modalities and possible consequences of mergers and acquisitions of companies. Terms like Holding Company, Group and Subsidiary Company come up and are defined. In the corporate sector, major companies undertake a massive PR exercise, leading up to the merger/acquisition and for some time afterwards, are underta...

IFFI 51, 51: My ‘golden peacock’ moment and the denial of recognition to IFFI Veterans It’s not the real thing, only a memento. Nevertheless it is not the lesser for me, in terms of value. How did I come about getting a replica of the much coveted Golden Peacock, which is the main prize at the International Film Festival of India? I was not part of any film shown at IFFI, nor had I contributed in any way, other than writing 51 articles on IFFI 51, attending some 30 film sho...

IFFI 51, 16-24 January, 43: Malayalam film Thahira; struggles of a partially deaf woman and a visually impaired man “Thahira’s never-give-up attitude towards life helped in taking care of her sisters’ education and marriages. She also constructed a house with her hard-earned money, after her family lost everything due to her father's debts”. The Malayalam feature film ‘Thahira’, under IFFI 51 Indian Panorama Feature Film section, tells the story of a r...

IFFI 50: The three encounters of Rashid Irani Ex restaurateur turned full-time film-buff and much revered/feared critic, Rashid Irani’s IFFI 2019 was an event that he would like to forget for reasons other than the quality of films he saw at the festival. So keen was he to see the Oscar package that he went all the way to INOX Porvorim to catch these Academy Award-winning movies. Some of them were scheduled at 9 pm and were four hours long, which meant that he would reach his hotel in P...

IFFI 50: Complexities of the complex As a film festival that wants to vie with the best in the world, the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) needs a regular festival complex. It does not have one. IFFI moved to Panaji, Goa, in 2004, a good 15 years ago. To facilitate this move from Delhi to Goa, the then Chief Minister, late Manohar Parrikar, leased out land to the INOX group of multiplexes, and a four screen cinema hall was built in a record 100 days. The Goa government also acquire...

Very nice initiative from our correspondent in India Siraj Syed "A press conference was held on 19th November, on the eve of the inauguration of the 50th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), at Maquinez Palace, Panaji, Goa. It was addressed by the Chief Minister of Goa (ESG), Mr. Pramod Sawant, who is also the Chairman of the Entertainment Society of Goa, and Mr. Chaitanya Prasad, Director of IFFI, among others. It was revealed at the PC that the cost of organising IFFI 2019 was...

IFFI Goa 2015, Festival Diary, IX: Advance to the rear ...