Goa as venue: Still unsure

The permanence of Goa as the venue of the International Film Festival of India isn't a foregone conclusion yet, writes Saibal Chatterjee.

The permanence of Goa as the venue of the International Film Festival of India isn't a foregone conclusion yet. That is the conclusion that one would tend to draw from the Information & Broadcasting Minister S. Jaipal Reddy's announcement that a new round of negotiations will be held with the Manohar Parrikar government in the state at the end of this year's festival.

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"Goa makes a great venue, a wonderful locale, for IFFI but we have entered into only a one-year Memorandum of Understanding with the government here," Mr. Reddy told a crowded press conference at the Kala Academy hours before boarding his flight back to New Delhi.

"The negotiations will be reopened once the curtain falls on the 35th IFFI and a decision on extending the MoU will be taken after a thorough assessment of the infrastructural and managerial facilities available in Goa," he said. He was, however, quick to add that Goa is the sole claimant for the status of permanent IFFI venue.

Mr. Reddy assured journalists that he did not believe in indulging in politics with regard to the hosting of IFFI. "The event is our national pride and we cannot allow narrow considerations to mar it in any way," he added. "We have been in power for six months but haven't ever sought to overturn the decision of the previous government. The festival has been made possible because we have done our bit and so has the Goa government."

The I& B minister also announced that a long-awaited co-production treaty between India and Italy has already been finalised. "All the clauses of the agreement have been examined and cleared in principle. It will ease the way for Indian filmmakers wanting to shoot in Italy and vice-versa. The treaty will be signed as soon as the Union Cabinet approves it," Mr. Reddy said.

Several other countries, including Germany, France, Canada and the UK, are interested in co-production treaties with India, the minister revealed. The French ambassador, Mr Dominique Girard, has expressed the desire to study the clauses of the Indo-Italian agreement in pursuit of a similar treaty. "Such a treaty would entitle Indian filmmakers to all the concessions that are available to other filmmakers in the partner country," Mr. Reddy explained.

Mr. Reddy, taking off from where his predecessor Ravi Shankar Prasad had left some months ago, has decided to pursue the cause of single-window clearance for all foreign filmmakers desirous of shooting their films on location in India. "I have already spoken to the home ministry and things are now in place for a deemed clearance system. If no objection is raised against a screenplay within three weeks of its submission, it will be deemed to have been cleared," the minister announced.

Mr. Reddy, however, pointed out that it might take longer than three weeks if permission was sought by a foreign filmmaker to shoot in an environmentally sensitive or security-sensitive locale. "But our efforts would be to expedite matters to the extent possible," he said.