the goan I network
PANAJI
Open Forum, a Federation of Film Societies initiative, was inaugurated at IFFI with a discussion on the New Challenges in Organising Film Festivals.
Recalling fond memories of being part of the first Open Forum in 1988, Sunit Tandon, Festival Director IFFI, vividly remembered the poster designed by the renowned G Ravindran and also highlighted the history of the federation.
Filmmaker and president of the Federation of Film Societies of India, Kiran Shantaram said that the open forum is conducted to know ‘what to watch and how to watch'. He noted that doing the festival individually was a difficult task. Inadequate infrastructure and lack of funds are major constraints for organising film festivals, especially, at international level which need government's proactive support.
The details of the consorted work undertaken by the Academy with the State were briefed by Rajendra Singh Babu, chairman, Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy, Bengaluru.
New York-based journalist Samantha Sartori was grateful to be present and was ‘really impressed with the festival'.
Amit Agarwal, head, International Alliances, Global Film Festivals, Noida, stated that while organising a festival is easy in the digital age, he questioned the presence of good infrastructure and planning. He pointed to Cannes as an example where the team commenced planning for the next one on the day when the festival ended.
Next ‘Open Forum' will be held on film making in a changing scenario Focus on Technology, Audience, Distribution, Economics, Screening Facility, etc with the participation of speakers - filmmaker from UK Sanja Appel, festival director of Bengaluru International Film Festival N Vidyasankar, Luong Dinh Dung (director and producer of film ‘Father & Son' - Vietnam), filmmaker from Karnataka Bharat Mirle, producer and director from Ahmedabad Robin Sikawar and young filmmaker from Goa Joywin Fernandez as well as filmmaker from Rajasthan Shreyans Jain.
