<p>Since the 1960s, Goa has been a popular destination for travellers, hippies and lately, ‘party animals’. But 20 years ago, this coastal state also attracted cinephiles and movie buffs from across the country. The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), a travelling festival earlier, settled in Goa in 2004. </p>.<p>The Palace of Maquinezes, now known as the Old GMC Building (Goa Medical College) in Panaji, dates back to the early 1700s, and has been IFFI’s main venue for 20 years. It houses the office of the Entertainment Society of Goa and the Maquinez Palace, a single screen theatre, on one side. Contrasting with the colonial architecture, a modern multiplex stands behind it, and within the same compound.</p>.<p>The old GMC building, which some locals say is haunted, comes to life every year during IFFI. The festival this year began on November 20 and concluded on November 28. </p>.<p>Snack stalls, beer parlours, photo booths, a Films Division DVD stand, and a bright red carpet adorned the venue. Indian celebrities like Kriti Sanon, A R Rahman, Sharmila Tagore, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Kriti Kulhari, R Madhavan and Yami Gautam walked the red carpet this year. </p>.<p><strong>Going about town</strong></p>.<p>Goa offers a choice of cultures to visiting film buffs. Some stroll by the Fontainhas area, with its old buildings, while others test their luck at the casinos on the Mandovi river, just across the festival venue. </p>.<p>After shelling out Rs 150 for a short ride from Fontainhas to Kala Academy (also an IFFI venue), I cribbed about how expensive the rides were in the city. A Goan journalist said, “We have three different fares here. One for the Goans, another for Indians and a third for the whites!”. Perhaps to tackle this problem, the festival hosts hire autos to give free rides to delegates from one festival venue to the other.</p>.<p><strong>Losing its charm?</strong></p>.<p>People speaking different languages come, you hear Malayalam, Bengali, Kannada and Marathi prominently if you stand around sipping beer at the venue. This year, quite a few visitors were murmuring that the curation of films was poor. </p>.<p>Among the 200-odd films screened, only about 20% were must-watches, and these were screened only once. For example, the South Korean master Hong Sang-Soo made two films this year. They were screened in festivals across the world. Neither came to Goa. The Cannes-winning Indian film ‘All We Imagine As Light’ was screened only once. Some cinephiles were upset that mainstream commercial films were getting undue attention. </p>.Ranbir Kapoor announces Raj Kapoor Film Festival at IFFI 2024.<p><strong>Focus on women</strong></p>.<p>Interestingly, eight of the 15 films in the international competition were directed by women. Most of these spoke about sexual harassment and explored women-centric themes. The Golden Peacock, the highest award at IFFI, was bagged by a woman filmmaker, Saulè Bliuvaitè for ‘Toxic’. </p>.<p>A delegate remarked how ‘women’s safety in cinema’ remained unaddressed during the panel discussion with Imtiaz Ali, Suhasini Maniratnam and Kushboo Sundar. The panellists received flak for dismissing the problems to sexual violence and gender in film industries (although they did mention the developments in the Malayalam film industry). </p>.<p><strong>Talking of AI</strong></p>.<p>ChatGPT’s new app, Sora was promoted in the guise of a panel discussion about ‘artificial intelligence altering filmmaking forever’.</p>.<p>Stephen Woolley’s masterclass about the five steps of film production was illuminating. He said, “A director has full control of the film. They hold a strong relationship with the artistes…. As a producer, you cannot try to gain control of the film. You’ve to let go of the creative process.”</p>.<p><strong>Invoking nostalgia</strong></p>.<p>This year marks the birth centenary of four Indian cinema legends — Akkineni Nageswara Rao (ANR), Tapan Sinha, Raj Kapoor and Mohammed Rafi. IFFI celebrated these icons by screening their restored films and organising dedicated panel discussions. Inexplicably, Vijaya Bhaskar, who scored music for 700-odd films, was completely forgotten. His birth centenary also falls this year.</p>.<p>ANR’s family, his son Nagarjuna, daughter-in-law Amala Akkineni, grandson Nagachaitanya and the family’s new entrant Sobitha Dhulipala, all actors, were present at the tribute session.</p>.<p>The audience at the red carpet sang ‘Mere sapno ki rani’ as Sharmila Tagore made an entrance for a session on Tapan Sinha. </p>.<p><strong>Ranbir’s childhood</strong></p>.<p>“I remember him (Raj Kapoor) as this big person with blue eyes. He would make all of us cousins stand in a line and bribe us with caramel toffee into doing salaam and singing ‘Awara hoon’,” Ranbir Kapoor said, recalling his earliest memory with his grandfather. The actor was at the festival to talk about Raj Kapoor in a session with filmmaker Rahul Rawail. </p>.<p><strong>Rafi melodies</strong></p>.<p>Singers Sonu Nigam and Anuradha Paudwal sang songs of Mohammed Rafi in a session titled ‘Asmaan se aaya farishta’ — Mohammad Rafi: The king of melody’. Rafi’s son Shahid Rafi also joined in. </p>.<p><strong>Cinema history</strong></p>.<p>An exhibition titled ‘Safarnama’ focused on the history of Indian cinema from the time of Dadasaheb Phalke’s ‘Raja Harishchandra’. It showed the timeline of India cinema — The talkie revolution (1930s to 40s), the classics era (1950 to 60), the Hindi cinema boom, and the diversity of Indian cinema. An eye-catching segment was titled ‘Dancing Through the Ages: The Rhythms of Indian Cinema’. Songs like ‘In aankhon ki masti mein’, ‘Nagada sang dhol’, ‘Urvashi Urvashi’ played on an LED TV. There were also picture puzzles and quizzes about the history of Indian cinema. </p>.<p>Huge cutouts of Raj Kapoor, Tapan Sinha, Rafi and ANR adorned the walls with long lists of their contributions.</p>.<p>Truly nostalgic. </p>
<p>Since the 1960s, Goa has been a popular destination for travellers, hippies and lately, ‘party animals’. But 20 years ago, this coastal state also attracted cinephiles and movie buffs from across the country. The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), a travelling festival earlier, settled in Goa in 2004. </p>.<p>The Palace of Maquinezes, now known as the Old GMC Building (Goa Medical College) in Panaji, dates back to the early 1700s, and has been IFFI’s main venue for 20 years. It houses the office of the Entertainment Society of Goa and the Maquinez Palace, a single screen theatre, on one side. Contrasting with the colonial architecture, a modern multiplex stands behind it, and within the same compound.</p>.<p>The old GMC building, which some locals say is haunted, comes to life every year during IFFI. The festival this year began on November 20 and concluded on November 28. </p>.<p>Snack stalls, beer parlours, photo booths, a Films Division DVD stand, and a bright red carpet adorned the venue. Indian celebrities like Kriti Sanon, A R Rahman, Sharmila Tagore, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Kriti Kulhari, R Madhavan and Yami Gautam walked the red carpet this year. </p>.<p><strong>Going about town</strong></p>.<p>Goa offers a choice of cultures to visiting film buffs. Some stroll by the Fontainhas area, with its old buildings, while others test their luck at the casinos on the Mandovi river, just across the festival venue. </p>.<p>After shelling out Rs 150 for a short ride from Fontainhas to Kala Academy (also an IFFI venue), I cribbed about how expensive the rides were in the city. A Goan journalist said, “We have three different fares here. One for the Goans, another for Indians and a third for the whites!”. Perhaps to tackle this problem, the festival hosts hire autos to give free rides to delegates from one festival venue to the other.</p>.<p><strong>Losing its charm?</strong></p>.<p>People speaking different languages come, you hear Malayalam, Bengali, Kannada and Marathi prominently if you stand around sipping beer at the venue. This year, quite a few visitors were murmuring that the curation of films was poor. </p>.<p>Among the 200-odd films screened, only about 20% were must-watches, and these were screened only once. For example, the South Korean master Hong Sang-Soo made two films this year. They were screened in festivals across the world. Neither came to Goa. The Cannes-winning Indian film ‘All We Imagine As Light’ was screened only once. Some cinephiles were upset that mainstream commercial films were getting undue attention. </p>.Ranbir Kapoor announces Raj Kapoor Film Festival at IFFI 2024.<p><strong>Focus on women</strong></p>.<p>Interestingly, eight of the 15 films in the international competition were directed by women. Most of these spoke about sexual harassment and explored women-centric themes. The Golden Peacock, the highest award at IFFI, was bagged by a woman filmmaker, Saulè Bliuvaitè for ‘Toxic’. </p>.<p>A delegate remarked how ‘women’s safety in cinema’ remained unaddressed during the panel discussion with Imtiaz Ali, Suhasini Maniratnam and Kushboo Sundar. The panellists received flak for dismissing the problems to sexual violence and gender in film industries (although they did mention the developments in the Malayalam film industry). </p>.<p><strong>Talking of AI</strong></p>.<p>ChatGPT’s new app, Sora was promoted in the guise of a panel discussion about ‘artificial intelligence altering filmmaking forever’.</p>.<p>Stephen Woolley’s masterclass about the five steps of film production was illuminating. He said, “A director has full control of the film. They hold a strong relationship with the artistes…. As a producer, you cannot try to gain control of the film. You’ve to let go of the creative process.”</p>.<p><strong>Invoking nostalgia</strong></p>.<p>This year marks the birth centenary of four Indian cinema legends — Akkineni Nageswara Rao (ANR), Tapan Sinha, Raj Kapoor and Mohammed Rafi. IFFI celebrated these icons by screening their restored films and organising dedicated panel discussions. Inexplicably, Vijaya Bhaskar, who scored music for 700-odd films, was completely forgotten. His birth centenary also falls this year.</p>.<p>ANR’s family, his son Nagarjuna, daughter-in-law Amala Akkineni, grandson Nagachaitanya and the family’s new entrant Sobitha Dhulipala, all actors, were present at the tribute session.</p>.<p>The audience at the red carpet sang ‘Mere sapno ki rani’ as Sharmila Tagore made an entrance for a session on Tapan Sinha. </p>.<p><strong>Ranbir’s childhood</strong></p>.<p>“I remember him (Raj Kapoor) as this big person with blue eyes. He would make all of us cousins stand in a line and bribe us with caramel toffee into doing salaam and singing ‘Awara hoon’,” Ranbir Kapoor said, recalling his earliest memory with his grandfather. The actor was at the festival to talk about Raj Kapoor in a session with filmmaker Rahul Rawail. </p>.<p><strong>Rafi melodies</strong></p>.<p>Singers Sonu Nigam and Anuradha Paudwal sang songs of Mohammed Rafi in a session titled ‘Asmaan se aaya farishta’ — Mohammad Rafi: The king of melody’. Rafi’s son Shahid Rafi also joined in. </p>.<p><strong>Cinema history</strong></p>.<p>An exhibition titled ‘Safarnama’ focused on the history of Indian cinema from the time of Dadasaheb Phalke’s ‘Raja Harishchandra’. It showed the timeline of India cinema — The talkie revolution (1930s to 40s), the classics era (1950 to 60), the Hindi cinema boom, and the diversity of Indian cinema. An eye-catching segment was titled ‘Dancing Through the Ages: The Rhythms of Indian Cinema’. Songs like ‘In aankhon ki masti mein’, ‘Nagada sang dhol’, ‘Urvashi Urvashi’ played on an LED TV. There were also picture puzzles and quizzes about the history of Indian cinema. </p>.<p>Huge cutouts of Raj Kapoor, Tapan Sinha, Rafi and ANR adorned the walls with long lists of their contributions.</p>.<p>Truly nostalgic. </p>