Three days to go, organisers till iffy over IFFI

Never has an international film festival been so subdued, so understated and so confusing. But the organisers, the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF), I&B Ministry and the marketing wing, the National Film Development Council are putting up a brave front.

‘‘We may not have premieres but we have good quality films. Morever, we in India have not seen most of the foreign films,’’ says DFF director Deepak Sandhu.

With the ministry sanctioning a budget of Rs 1.52 crore, supplemented further by Rs 1.25 crore from the Delhi government, the 10-day festival has been cut short by a day to make room for the festive season.

Now for some statistics. Sixty-five films from around 40 countries will be shown in the Cinema of the World Section. As part of the mainstream cinema, 12 popular films released in 2000 and 2001 will be screened while 20 feature and 11 non-feature Indian films chosen by a panel of eminent film personalities will constitute the India Panorama.

From the Indian section, Devdas (all the previous seven avatars) will be seen once again. There’s also a restrospective of Italian filmmaker Marcello Mastroianni who is likely to attend the festival. The retrospective, comprising ten films, will open with the screening of I remember, yes I remember by Anna Maria Toto.

Around 3,000 foreign and Indian delegates are likely to be registered for the festival.

The Asian competition section comprising 15 films including two from India would present the latest cinematic trends in Asia.

A five-member jury headed by filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta and including members of the foreign film fraternity would consider prizes for best film by an Asian director, most promising Asian director and a special jury award.

‘‘The film bazar will be an important sector this year at the festival and will be organised by the national film development corporation (NFDC). We are hoping for things to happen,’’ Sandhu said.

With impressive exports targets being projected by the ministry, the film festival would do well to sell films. After all, when an Indian delegation led by I&B Minister Sushma Swaraj left for Cannes, it was the market potential of Indian films that was the main focus, more than entering films into the competitive categories.