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, 047: 2021 will have been the last IFFI where FD participated and contributed At every IFFI, the Films Division (FD) of the Union Government of India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), plays a prominent role. It provides technical support and runs a stall, among other things. Along with the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF), the Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI) and the National Film Archive of India (NFAI), it is to be merged with the National Film ...

IFFI 52, 045: The last days of Directorate of Film Festivals Bumping into a senior Films Division (FD) officer at IFFI, I asked him if any preparations had been made for the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF), which, in normal circumstances, would be held in the end of January-beginning of February. The Films Division of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B), Central Government of India, has been making documentary, short and animation films for decades. Very few of th...

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...

MIFF 2018, XX, Open Forum No. 5 ...

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