Short films to be highlight at Goa festival

Goa, Sep 27 (IANS) Short films will be the flavour at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) which will be held in Goa in November, officials said Saturday.

The Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), which is the nodal agency for organising this annual film festival, claims this is the first time in the history of Indian film festivals, that short films have been given a holistic thrust, backed by a professional business model.

'IFFI's Short Film Centre (SFC) will serve as a business platform for makers of short films, buyers, festival organisers and funding agencies. This has never happened before,' ESG chief executive officer Manoj Srivastava told IANS in Panaji.

Of the 500 national and international film makers who are expected to submit their films at the Short Film Centre, 20 would be selected for the international competition and 10 for the competition on environmental issues.

The cumulative prize money for both the sections is pegged at $26,000.

'What we intend to do is bridge the existing gap between the various players in the short film circuit and therefore increase opportunities of professional interaction,' Srivastava said.

The ESG is working out this exercise in association with the Indian Documentary Producers Association (IDPA) and the short films will be selected by an international jury, once the submission deadline expires Oct 15.

IFFI's other innovation is the creation of a special platform which will enable short-film makers to show their product to prospective buyers or funding agents.

'All the documentary films would be loaded on a central server. The film-maker would only have to select the film they need to showcase to a prospective client and run it on specially designed mini screens,' Srivastva said.

Justifying this year's thrust on short films Srivastava claimed there were 10 short films produced for every one feature film made in India each year.

'The Short Film Centre is our contribution to keep the short film movement chugging,' said Srivastava, a short film maker himself.

'Foreign Retro', 'Country Focus' among others are some of the other sections which will be featured in the Goa IFFI which is expected to start on Nov 22 and culminate on Dec 2.