News From Ares
For Daijiworld Media Network—Panaji (CN)

Panaji, Jul 10: The state-managed entertainment society of Goa (ESG) has asked the directorate of film festival (DFF) to hand over the organisation of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) to the society within the next two years.
 
The ESG has been conducting IFFI since 2004 handling hospitality and logistics, while the core programming of the event was handled by the DFF. ‘We have requested the DFF to hand over the festival to us within next two years,’ said Nikhil Desai, ESG general manager.
 
Desai informed that the request was made during ESG’s meeting with the DFF in Delhi recently. Goa was declared the permanent venue for the IFFI in 2004 and the state government formed the ESG as a special body for conducting this festival. Earlier, the film festival was held in the national capital.
 
The DFF has announced that ‘IFFI 2008’ will be held from November 22 to December 2 in Panaji. ‘We will be handling some major programming for this festival. This time, we will participate in a bigger way. We will have one red carpet every day,’ said Desai.
 
Initially, the state government had set 2008 as the deadline for taking over the festival, but this was deferred following the ESG’s inability to do so. Preparations for this year’s event have already begun and bids are being accepted for event management.
 
Desai stated that four firms, ‘Brilliant Entertainment’, ‘Times 360 Degree’, ‘Wizcraft’ and ‘Hansa’ are in the race this year. ‘We intended to have a three-year contract with the agency. But now we have decided to curtail it to only a year,’ he added.
 
The organizers have decided to have equal representation for Bollywood and regional movies at ‘IFFI 2008’.  Kala Academy and Macquiniz Palace will be the two venues for the IFFI this year. The infrastructure for this prestigious festival in 2004 was set up with an investment of Rs 150 crore by the state government.