IFFI not a political arena to protest: Director

C Senthil Rajan, IFFI Festival Director today quashed FTII students' claims that the organisers had cancelled their registration and said that an international event like this is not a place to protest.
The students of the Pune-based institute have claimed that their registration has been rejected and they have also been barred from attending the film festival.
Rajan says the organisers had received 24 registrations from FTII students out of which they only denied one, who allegedly told the police that he would protest inside the IFFI venues.
"We have not stopped any registrations. We have not cancelled anything. The number of student delegates registered are 400 and out of that we have 24 FTII students. We have only cancelled one registration of a student because he told the police that he will come into the venue and protest," Rajan told reporters here.

"Our objective is to show films. This is not a political arena or protest arena for people to come in and protest. It is an arena for showcasing films. We have been very clear in that. I will say again that we have not stopped anybody who wants to come here and watch films."
Addressing the allegation of FTII students about dropping off a section in which films made by the institute's students are screened, Rajan said, "People have been saying that we have dropped FTII student package section. We have dropped the entire student package not particularly FTII to accommodate more international competition films.

"We have not sacrificed, the I&B ministry still has the National Students Festival oraganised in film institutes every year. We will consider it again next year," Rajan said.