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Tag: IFFI 2012

  • NFDC film bazaar opens at IFFI 2012

    NFDC film bazaar opens at IFFI 2012

    NEW DELHI: For any business including films, there is need for the right revenue model which can give creativity a chance to breathe freely.

    Speaking while inaugurating the Film Bazaar set up by the National Film Development Corporation to coincide with the Festival, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said creativity opens new vistas and makes people think and work towards better goals.

    Tewari lauded the NFDC for ensuring visibility for another kind of cinema which would not be able to find distribution outlets. It had also helped film makers who ‘are not up the commercial curve’.

    Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar said the film Bazaar is perhaps the most important aspect of a film festival, and urged NFDC to take Indian cinema to international levels through its market.

    Polish Culture Minister Bogdan Zdrojewski said India respected cinema in the same manner as the people in his country did, and used it to promote cultural values. Lauding IFFI as the most important film festival in Asia, he added that more and more Indian film personalities were now visiting his country and referred to the recent visit by megastar Amitabh Bachchan.

    NFDC Chairman Ramesh Sippy said the Bazaar should be viewed with as much passion as filmmaking, and regretted that many filmmakers did not realise its importance. But he said that the popularity of the Film Bazaar here had spread to many countries and also to south Asia.

    NFDC managing director Nina Lath Gupta referred to various sections including sessions with filmmakers, distributors, Co-Production Market and Screen Writers Labs and other events apart from film screenings at the Bazaar which will continue at the Mariott Resort till 24 November.

  • FFI decides to boycott the IFFI 2012 for being ignored at every stage

    FFI decides to boycott the IFFI 2012 for being ignored at every stage

    New Delhi: The Film Federation of India, the apex body of the film industry, has decided to boycott all activities of the International Film Festival of India in Goa in November to protest it being by-passed and not being called to any Steering and other committee meetings.

    In fact, it was informed about the Industry Coordination Committee meeting as late as August-end by which time some major discussions that are normally taken at this meeting had already been taken by the Directorate of Film Festivals and IFFI Secretariat.

    FFI at its annual general meeting late last week in Mumbai where members from all over India were present unanimously decided that the federation will not participate in any of the activities of IFFI.
     
    FFI has always been an essential component of the Steering Committee and its members actively involved in various other committees and sub-committees such as theatre, technical, hospitality and others. But this has not happened in recent years and ‘FFI can only assume that either the committees have been discontinued or FFI has been kept out of them.‘

    According to FFI President Vinod Lamba, ‘it is now learnt that DFF has already taken all major decisions without calling for any joint meeting, or holding any discussions with the FFI; or even informing FFI.‘

    In fact, in 2011, the time-honoured tradition of the vote of thanks being delivered by the FFI President at the IFFI opening had been done away with at the level of the DFF ‘with no proper and timely information being conveyed formally to the Information & Broadcasting Ministry or FFI.‘

    Lamba added, ‘While this callous misadventure may appear to have been nipped in the bud and status quo restored, the deliberate mishandling of affairs at the inauguration event itself conveyed a greater affront to the persona and position of the FFI President, prompting the Minister (Mrs Ambika Soni) herself to rush on stage to take corrective action.‘

    The IFFI by its very tenets is a festival held jointly by the government and the Indian film industry, and FFI being the apex body of the industry ‘has been playing their part with total sincerity and efficiency.‘

    However, the same cannot be said of the Directorate of Film Festivals which has been persistently neglecting and slighting the FFI, in all matters that were once decided jointly.

    Talking to indiantelevision.com, Lamba added that despite an assurance of remedial action, it seems that the insensitiveness seems to have gathered strength; instead of involving the FFI and through it the industry from the early stages, it seems that the DFF/IFFI Secretariat is bent on sidelining the industry in the major decision making processes, reaching out to it only in times of dire need of correcting embarrassing foul ups. At the same time, he stressed that FFI has never shied away from providing assistance.

    Expressing surprise at the decision, IFFI Director Shankar Mohan told indiantelevision.com that he had been in constant touch with the film industry and it was erroneous to say they had been kept out. There has been constant coordination with the FFI, the Film and Television Producers Guild, and the Confederation of Cine Employees.

    He added that only two committees had been formed this year – the Steering Committee and a Technical Committee.

    He said he had been personally trying for the last month to arrange a meeting of the Industry Coordination Committee, but had failed to get a response.