A parallel film festival organised by Film and Television Institute of India protestors got underway in the Goan capital of Panaji on Tuesday near the venue of the prestigious International Film Festival of India, hours after the authorities sent organisers a notice questioning the legality of the event.
The students of the country's most reputed film school, who last month ended a 139-day strike, decided to organise the parallel festival after being kept out of IFFI this year. Both IFFI and the FTII are run by the Ministry for Information and Broadcasting.
Late on Monday, North Goa district magistrate Nila Mohannan served a notice on the hosts of the alternative festival, the Instituto de Nossa Senhora de Piedade. It had asked whether the organisers had permission to publicly exhibit films, if the films had been certified by the censor board, and if organisers were charging for tickets.
Fr Maverick Fernandes, who is in charge of the institute, replied to the notice early on Tuesday, saying that attendance to the screenings was by invitation and only certified films were being screened.
As the alternative festival began, around 30 policemen were stationed outside the venue. Fernandes said that despite the police deployment, the screenings went ahead without a hitch.
Reclaiming space
The FTII students complained that they have been discouraged from attending IFFI, where some of the best recent films from around the world are screened. Watching these movies, they say, is a vital part of their education.
"Each year, around 150 students from FTII attend IFFI as part of our learning," said Heer Ganjwala, who passed out in January and whose student film was part of IFFI’s package in 2013. The festival period has been an official holiday, and the institute has usually given students an allowance to travel to Goa and cover their expenses there, Ganjawala said.
This year, only 15 FTII students were permitted to attend IFFI. “Though 55 of us applied, only 22 registrations were cleared,” said said FTII alumnus Prateek Vats. He added that many students were tied up with court cases in Pune arising out of their prolonged strike to protest controversial appointments to the film school administration, including that of small-time actor Gajendra Chauhan as chairman. The police had arrested several students during the agitation, leaving them with legal matters to attend to.
In addition, the organisers of IFFI decided to drop the curated package of student films. This decision hurting film students from other film schools around the country as well.
The alternative festival was being organised to reclaim "our space and our territory", said Vats. "A film festival is the domain of film students as well, and we want to make the point that you cannot arbitrarily knock off a student section from the film festival," he said.
'Victimised from day one'
Plans for the parallel festival were prompted by a series of confrontations between FTII students and the authorities since IFFI began on November 20. Two FTII alumni were arrested for protesting at the inauguration of the event. The following day, a final-year student wearing a FTTI T-shirt was detained at a cinema in Panjim. On Sunday, two first-year students with valid student registrations were stopped outside a screening at IFFI and asked to accompany the authorities to the police station.
The FTII student body said its members were being victimised and harassed at the festival venue right from the start. “We are not trying to disrupt anything," said Vats. "Is screening films at a parallel event so disruptive that the police must try to stop it?”
Earlier, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar had said that the students had no right to protest at IFFI and tarnish the image of the state.
Outgoing FTII governing council member and filmmaker Saeed Mirza was at the parallel festival venue on Tuesday morning. “I have come in solidarity with the students,” he said.
Students at the festival sported badges saying “Save FTII: The protest is on." Ten student films were screened and 11 will be shown on Wednesday.
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The students of the country's most reputed film school, who last month ended a 139-day strike, decided to organise the parallel festival after being kept out of IFFI this year. Both IFFI and the FTII are run by the Ministry for Information and Broadcasting.
Late on Monday, North Goa district magistrate Nila Mohannan served a notice on the hosts of the alternative festival, the Instituto de Nossa Senhora de Piedade. It had asked whether the organisers had permission to publicly exhibit films, if the films had been certified by the censor board, and if organisers were charging for tickets.
Fr Maverick Fernandes, who is in charge of the institute, replied to the notice early on Tuesday, saying that attendance to the screenings was by invitation and only certified films were being screened.
As the alternative festival began, around 30 policemen were stationed outside the venue. Fernandes said that despite the police deployment, the screenings went ahead without a hitch.
Reclaiming space
The FTII students complained that they have been discouraged from attending IFFI, where some of the best recent films from around the world are screened. Watching these movies, they say, is a vital part of their education.
"Each year, around 150 students from FTII attend IFFI as part of our learning," said Heer Ganjwala, who passed out in January and whose student film was part of IFFI’s package in 2013. The festival period has been an official holiday, and the institute has usually given students an allowance to travel to Goa and cover their expenses there, Ganjawala said.
This year, only 15 FTII students were permitted to attend IFFI. “Though 55 of us applied, only 22 registrations were cleared,” said said FTII alumnus Prateek Vats. He added that many students were tied up with court cases in Pune arising out of their prolonged strike to protest controversial appointments to the film school administration, including that of small-time actor Gajendra Chauhan as chairman. The police had arrested several students during the agitation, leaving them with legal matters to attend to.
In addition, the organisers of IFFI decided to drop the curated package of student films. This decision hurting film students from other film schools around the country as well.
The alternative festival was being organised to reclaim "our space and our territory", said Vats. "A film festival is the domain of film students as well, and we want to make the point that you cannot arbitrarily knock off a student section from the film festival," he said.
'Victimised from day one'
Plans for the parallel festival were prompted by a series of confrontations between FTII students and the authorities since IFFI began on November 20. Two FTII alumni were arrested for protesting at the inauguration of the event. The following day, a final-year student wearing a FTTI T-shirt was detained at a cinema in Panjim. On Sunday, two first-year students with valid student registrations were stopped outside a screening at IFFI and asked to accompany the authorities to the police station.
The FTII student body said its members were being victimised and harassed at the festival venue right from the start. “We are not trying to disrupt anything," said Vats. "Is screening films at a parallel event so disruptive that the police must try to stop it?”
Earlier, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar had said that the students had no right to protest at IFFI and tarnish the image of the state.
Outgoing FTII governing council member and filmmaker Saeed Mirza was at the parallel festival venue on Tuesday morning. “I have come in solidarity with the students,” he said.
Students at the festival sported badges saying “Save FTII: The protest is on." Ten student films were screened and 11 will be shown on Wednesday.