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Goof-ups mar film festival; film-maker and entire crew denied entry

PANAJI: The International Film Festival of India in its 39th avatar now is not free of goof-ups.

Many films, including Jabbar Patel’s Antardhwani, a tribute to Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, played to half empty halls even as keen film-goers stood outside due to the non-availability of passes.

Documentary film-maker Gautam Saikia had to undergo the ignominy of being denied entry during the screening of his own film. “Despite identifying myself to the volunteers at the entrance, they refused to let me go in. The screening of my film had started and I was supposed to make the presentation,” Mr. Saikia said.

Mr. Saikia and his entire crew were left stranded at the entrance while the screening of their non-fiction film ‘A Friend Turned Foe’ began without presentation.

Mr. Saikia was a jury member of the Indian Panorama selection committee in the year 2007 while his film Jaws of Death was the opening film of the Indian Panorama in IFFI 2005.

His latest film is a mix of wildlife and anthropological styles.

Mr. Saikia was not the only film-maker to struggle to get an entry inside the halls. Marathi filmmaker Chitra Palekar faced a similar situation and could get entry for the Patel documentary only on the intervention of the film maker.

“They should let everybody in once the film begins,” Mr. Patel said.

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