PRESS STATEMENT ON IFFI DATES......!
RE-SCHEDULING OF DATES
OF THE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF INDIA IN GOA
1. The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa began yesterday on November 23, 2011 and is to end on December 3, the Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Patron Saint of Goa.
2. We, the Church in Goa, take strong exception to its scheduling concomitantly with the Novena and the Feast of St. Francis Xavier at the Basilica of Bom Jesus, Old Goa. This celebration, held for full ten days from November 24 to December 3, every year, attracts thousands of devotees from all over Goa as well as from the rest of the Country and the World. This is not an event that was foisted upon people but evolved from the respects being paid to him by people of all hues down the ages.
3. Goa is the tiniest State of India having limited availability of space and other resources. By itself, this is a precarious predicament as it can lead and has led to a virtual collapse of logistics so much needed to organize the devotees, attending the religious services and circulating around the stalls lining the roads around the Basilica in Old Goa.
4. Another festival of the magnitude of an International Film Festival is certainly an extra burden on the same logistics, which involve Sanitary facilities, Security, Safety and smooth circulation of people and traffic.
5. Repeated requests, since 2006, from the Rector of the Basilica of Bom Jesus, at Old Goa, Fr. Savio Barreto,sj, a representation signed by members of the Diocesan Pastoral Council, the highest representative body of the Archdiocese of Goa, and other petitions from other representative bodies have fallen on deaf ears, manifesting an utter lack of sensitivity to the sentiments of the countless devotees flocking to Old Goa.
6. Moreover, adding insult to injury is the evasive and ambiguous response of the powers-that-be to the recent intervention of a delegation of priests submitting a memorandum to our Honourable Chief Minister, Shri. Digambar Kamat and the Honourable Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Smt. Ambika Soni. All this appalls us.
7. The H’ble Chief Minister and the Central Information and Broadcasting Minister have been constantly harping on the fact that the scheduling of dates depends on other National and International authorities like the FIAPF (Fédération Internationale des Associations de Producteurs de Films; English: International Federation of Film Producers Associations) and FFI (Film Federation of India).
8. It may be recalled that before Goa became the venue of this festival, for at least two years it was Delhi that hosted it and it was held in October. Powers-that-be owe the people an explanation regarding the present scheduling of the Festival from the time Goa began to host it. The dates of the Festival for the last 10 years, appended below, simply raise questions regarding this whole exercise.
In light of the facts above and considering that opposition to the present scheduling of the Film Festival in Goa is steadily mounting and in deference to the wishes of the people of Goa as also in solidarity with those undergoing hardships, We, the Church in Goa:
• Forcefully Appeal to the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF) and to the Film Federation of India( FFI) to ensure, that in keeping with the sensibilities of the host State, the IFFI dates don’t coincide henceforth from next year with the dates of the Novena and Feast of St. Francis Xavier, the Patron Saint of Goa (that is from the 23rd of November to the 3rd of December);
• Earnestly Hope that the Government of India and the Government of Goa, heeding to the wishes of Goans, will follow-up with the FIAPF and the FFI that this blunder doesn’t occur anymore; and
• Firmly Caution that this clash of dates of IFFI with the Novena and Feast of St. Francis Xavier will NOT be tolerated from next year.
Last Few IFFI Dates from the Official Website www.iffi.nic.in
33rd IFFI New Delhi 1st to 10th October 2002
34th IFFI New Delhi 9th to 19th October 2003
35th IFFI Goa 29th November to 9th December, 2004
36th IFFI Goa 24th November to 4th December, 2005
37th IFFI Goa 23rd November to 3rd December, 2006
38th IFFI Goa 23rd November to 3rd December, 2007
39th IFFI Goa 22nd November to 2nd December, 2008
40th IFFI Goa 23rd November to 3rd December, 2009
41st IFFI Goa 22nd November to 2nd December, 2010
42nd IFFI Goa 23rd November to 3rd December, 2011
Fr. Francisco Caldeira
Archdiocesan Spokesperson
Archdiocese of Goa and Daman
Panjim – November 24, 2011