Cannes: IFFI's loss is others' gain

Cannes Film Festival is the best hub of films where representative of various film festivals assemble to discover movies and talent. But the director of International Film Festival of India (IFFI), the prestigious film extravaganza on Indian soil, was missing from the ongoing 67th Cannes International Film Festival. Others gained from their absence.

If the festival and programming heads from Berlinale, Busan, Toronto, Dubai and Venice were spotted scouting for films at the fest, bosses of Mumbai Film Festival, Chennai International Film Festival and International Film Festival of Kerala were also present in full force.

But a representative from IFFI was absent.

When asked, an IFFI official, who declined to be named, said that permission was not granted to IFFI director or representative of Directorate Of Film Festivals (DFF) to go to Cannes. Therefore, now they have to depend on inputs from secondary sources to decide on the films for the 45th edition of IFFI in Goa.

IFFI's grandness can be estimated from the fact that over 300 films from 75 countries are screened when it takes place in Goa in November.