Two students of the Film and Television Institute of India were stopped by security guards at the International Film Festival of India venue in Panjim on Sunday morning in the ongoing war of nerves
between protesting students and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry hosting the festival in Goa.
FTII student body representative Neel Manikanth, told Scroll.in that the two first-year students, with valid student registrations were stopped outside a screening at Kala Academy on Sunday morning and asked to accompany the authorities to the Panjim police station.
“They were told there were instructions from above that FTII students were to be prevented from entering IFFI venues,” Manikanth said.
Registrations cancelled
The students contested this and were permitted inside after some argument. “Within 15 minutes,
though, they got an email from the IFFI office, saying their registrations had been cancelled,” said Manikant. But when the students checked with the festival office, the organisers seemed to backtrack on their decision, he said. They were told that their registrations were valid for the time being, leaving them guessing about whether they will be permitted to watch films after Monday.
This is the fourth such incident at IFFI in the battle between students and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The ministry is responsible for running both IFFI, which is the country’s most high-profile film festival, as well as the FTII, India's most reputed film school, located in Pune.
In June, FTII students went on strike to protest the appointment of small-time actor Gajendra Chauhan as the school’s chairman, and also other political appointees to the administration. The students claimed that these people did not have the credibility or expertise to lead the institution. When they called off the strike on October 28 after 139 days, the students said they would return to class but continue their protest by other means – including demonstrations at IFFI.
Slogan shouting
They made good their promise on Friday, when two former FTII students, Kislay and Shubham, waved protest posters at the inauguration of the event. Towards the end of the ceremony, ceremony at which I&B Minister Arun Jaitley was present, they shouted, “Jawab do, jawab do, Jaitley saab jawab do” – give us answers, Mr Jaitley.
They were arrested, charged with criminal trespass, impersonation, obstruction of a public servant in the performance of his duty, and released on conditional bail a day later.
On Saturday, the Goa police detained Ashutosh Vandana, a final-year cinematography FTII student from the courtyard area of Panjim’s INOX cinema. He was taken to the festival director, where his delegate registration was cancelled, then taken to the Panjim police station before he was released on personal bond.
“Ashutosh was merely standing there at INOX, wearing an FTII T shirt the Institute had given students two years back, and the cops came and stopped him and took him to the police station, “ said Manikant.
IFFI Festival Director C Senthil Rajan was quick to explain the decision. “The registration was cancelled because he went and told the police, I will protest,” Rajan said. “If the person is coming and saying he will stop the programme, how can we allow it?”
Manikant of the FTII students association dismissed this contention. “Do you think it is possible that a student who intends to protest will go up to any policeman and say I intend to protest?” he asked.
In a press note, the FTII student body said that the “bizarre series of events” began on Friday morning, when an editing student V Raghavender was “summarily dismissed” from his internship at the festival’s Film Bazaar section, when he was discovered to be enrolled at the film school. The note said that Raghavender had not hidden the fact when applying for the internship.
'Kakfaesque nightmare'
“It is with mounting horror and anguish that we watch the steep but sure descent of our nation into a Kafkaesque nightmare, “ the student’s press note said.
They said the school administration had denied most students permission to attend the festival this year, citing class and shooting schedules. Only 15 FTII students were given permission to attend the event, which features some of the best recent films from around the world.
Students claim that many of them had been tied up with court cases relating to their strike to prevent them from travelling outside Pune during the festival. The few who managed to get registration were not given the customary travel and accommodation allowance. In addition, festival organisers dropped the package of student films that IFFI has featured in previous years.
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between protesting students and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry hosting the festival in Goa.
FTII student body representative Neel Manikanth, told Scroll.in that the two first-year students, with valid student registrations were stopped outside a screening at Kala Academy on Sunday morning and asked to accompany the authorities to the Panjim police station.
“They were told there were instructions from above that FTII students were to be prevented from entering IFFI venues,” Manikanth said.
Registrations cancelled
The students contested this and were permitted inside after some argument. “Within 15 minutes,
though, they got an email from the IFFI office, saying their registrations had been cancelled,” said Manikant. But when the students checked with the festival office, the organisers seemed to backtrack on their decision, he said. They were told that their registrations were valid for the time being, leaving them guessing about whether they will be permitted to watch films after Monday.
This is the fourth such incident at IFFI in the battle between students and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The ministry is responsible for running both IFFI, which is the country’s most high-profile film festival, as well as the FTII, India's most reputed film school, located in Pune.
In June, FTII students went on strike to protest the appointment of small-time actor Gajendra Chauhan as the school’s chairman, and also other political appointees to the administration. The students claimed that these people did not have the credibility or expertise to lead the institution. When they called off the strike on October 28 after 139 days, the students said they would return to class but continue their protest by other means – including demonstrations at IFFI.
Slogan shouting
They made good their promise on Friday, when two former FTII students, Kislay and Shubham, waved protest posters at the inauguration of the event. Towards the end of the ceremony, ceremony at which I&B Minister Arun Jaitley was present, they shouted, “Jawab do, jawab do, Jaitley saab jawab do” – give us answers, Mr Jaitley.
They were arrested, charged with criminal trespass, impersonation, obstruction of a public servant in the performance of his duty, and released on conditional bail a day later.
On Saturday, the Goa police detained Ashutosh Vandana, a final-year cinematography FTII student from the courtyard area of Panjim’s INOX cinema. He was taken to the festival director, where his delegate registration was cancelled, then taken to the Panjim police station before he was released on personal bond.
“Ashutosh was merely standing there at INOX, wearing an FTII T shirt the Institute had given students two years back, and the cops came and stopped him and took him to the police station, “ said Manikant.
IFFI Festival Director C Senthil Rajan was quick to explain the decision. “The registration was cancelled because he went and told the police, I will protest,” Rajan said. “If the person is coming and saying he will stop the programme, how can we allow it?”
Manikant of the FTII students association dismissed this contention. “Do you think it is possible that a student who intends to protest will go up to any policeman and say I intend to protest?” he asked.
In a press note, the FTII student body said that the “bizarre series of events” began on Friday morning, when an editing student V Raghavender was “summarily dismissed” from his internship at the festival’s Film Bazaar section, when he was discovered to be enrolled at the film school. The note said that Raghavender had not hidden the fact when applying for the internship.
'Kakfaesque nightmare'
“It is with mounting horror and anguish that we watch the steep but sure descent of our nation into a Kafkaesque nightmare, “ the student’s press note said.
They said the school administration had denied most students permission to attend the festival this year, citing class and shooting schedules. Only 15 FTII students were given permission to attend the event, which features some of the best recent films from around the world.
Students claim that many of them had been tied up with court cases relating to their strike to prevent them from travelling outside Pune during the festival. The few who managed to get registration were not given the customary travel and accommodation allowance. In addition, festival organisers dropped the package of student films that IFFI has featured in previous years.