SCO Film Festival: India to host, festival begins tomorrow In a first-of-its-kind event, the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO)’s film festival opens tomorrow in Mumbai. This is part of the initiatives taken by India after assuming Presidency of SCO. A total of 55 films will be screened during the festival, at two venues: the Films Division Complex, Peddar Road, and Nehru Centre. Proceedings will be kicked-off at an inaugural function, to be held at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, Nat...

Merger with NFDC: Are the media units fighting a losing battle? While the proposal to bring four media units of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting under the umbrella of the NFDC is being debated in the media, among the stake-holders and the concerned public in general, we need to look at a decision of the High Court, dated 07 October 2021, in a Petition filed by the Films Division Staff Association against the Union of India. This decision underscores that any attempt to prevent th...

Film Bazaar 2019: Film pitches, hectic meetings, panel discussions Held on the sidelines of the 50th International Film festival of India (IFFI), Goa, 2019,  at the J.W. Marriott Hotel, the Film Bazaar is an annual event organised by the National Film Development Corporation of India, over four days.   The second day of the 13th Film Bazaar continued with hectic meetings, insightful knowledge sessions, and workshops filled with insights for participants. Here are...

IFFI Goa 2017, XV: UnSeen Durga and the Nude that nobody saw Among the many controversies and shake-ups that IFFI Goa 2107, one concerns the exclusion of two Indian films from the Indian Panorama. S*** Durga (name altered under instructions from the Central Board of Film Certification) and Nude. Durga was made by a Keralite director in Kerala while Nude is a Marathi film. The former uses Durga only as an allegory and there is no reference to the deity, while the latter is a docu-feature on th...

IFFI Goa 2017, IX: TV Sponsorship package still open National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) on its home page has listed the following Proposal as the No. 1 item under News. It invites proposals for sponsorship of TV coverage of the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa, November 2017. Event Details:              • Ground Event: IFFI at Panjim Goa from 20thto 28th November 2017.    ...

IFFI Goa 2017, VIII: Message of Sunit Tandon, Festival Director In the run-up to the International Film Festival of India, Panaji, Goa, November 20-28, I continue to monitor the news and developments. Here’s one link I found: http://iffigoa.org/indian-cinema-catalogue-2017/ At the bottom is a button called Download. When you click on it, you get: Sorry! Page not Found Back To Home However, on the second link, found right next to the above link, http://iffigoa.org/international-cin...

IFFI Goa 2017, IV: No Director, no Jt. Director, but the Indian film lists are out Press Information Bureau (PIB), Mumbai, is largely invested with managing the media at International Film Festival of India (IFFI). Their home page has the following address: http://pibmumbai.gov.in/# On this home page, you are greeted with a pop up about the government’s cleanliness drive. Click on the cross at the top right hand corner there, and the pop-up closes. Now you are led to a site whose addr...

IFFI Goa 2017, III: Three organisations, two lists and we are still clueless Attempts at getting any current information about the organising or the content of the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), 20-28 November, 2017, Panaji, Goa, have met with no success. In this context, the confirmation of my accreditation (and I hope that of many others qualifying journalists, critics and photographers who had applied) has been received by email, a month after applying. That said, here i...

IFFI Goa 2017, II: The Countdown has begun, but who is counting? Hitherto, the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) was organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), Central Government of India (all in New Delhi), in collaboration with various other Ministry units. The media relations were handled solely by the Press Information Bureau (PIB). When the annual event moved to Goa and set base there, a special body was created by the ...

  Early on in Ruchika Oberoi’s Island City, an IT company Manager reminds his employees that its temporary tagline, the three words, all beginning with F, do not constitute the company’s ‘motto’. The latter consists of three words beginning with O. Three, just in case you missed the point. She goes on to mount three stories, tenuously linked, based in Mumbai, but not directly about the trials and tribulations of living in a city that once consisted ...

For its next edition, the Locarno Festival’s co-production lab Open Doors will focus on India. The announcement was made on November 24 by Festival’s Artistic Director Olivier Père, and Nadia Dresti, Head of Locarno’s Industry Office, during the 41st edition of the International Film Festival of India in Goa. "Everybody knows that India outpaces the world in film production, releasing around 1,300 films every year.But these figures can be misleading. The strength of commerci...

German director Fatih Akin will be the major attraction at the Film Bazaar 2010, the market section of the 41st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa (Nov 22-Dec2, 2010). He will participate in the Masterclass programme of the market that is organized by the Government of India agency, the National Film Development Corporation Ltd (NFDC) This the 4th time that NFDC is organizing the Film Bazaar at the highly-popular beachfront tourist destination that became the permanen...