THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala State Chalachitra Academy has come up with a slew of proposals to cut short expenses and conduct this year’s edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) on a less expensive scale. The Academy plans to avoid an international jury and the opening and closing ceremonies, reduce the number of films and to replace the regular festival book with a smaller ‘festival handbook.’
Further, this year’s edition will be themed on movies that speak about survival, academy officials said. The academy has submitted the proposals to the government to conduct the filmy fiesta on a shoe-string budget. The proposal is currently under the consideration of the government.
The previous edition of the festival had cost the exchequer Rs 6 crore. This year, the academy has put forth a host of proposals to avoid the associated expenses in the fest and conduct the 23rd edition of the fest at half the rate. With the implementation of the proposals, the academy hopes to conduct the event at an amount of Rs 3 crores. Increasing the delegate pass, doing away with an international jury and sending no invites to the international crowd, are some of the proposals submitted by the Academy officials.
“This time, we have decided to do away with an international jury and not to send invites to international filmmakers. The cost incurred in bringing them involves booking flight tickets and accommodation. If this is avoided, we can save a lot of money. So this time we will not be bringing foreign guests and judges. If they choose to come bearing the flight expenses, then we will arrange the accommodation, but we aren’t inviting the international community this time,” says Academy chairman and filmmaker Kamal.The jury too will be one comprising those from the country. Moreover, a hike in the delegate pass has also been decided. “With a hike in the delegate pass, we intend to raise Rs 2 crores.
This will be done after taking opinions from the members of the film society and discussion with the Culture minister. An amount of Rs 1 crore is there in the Plan Fund and that was given to us by the government earlier. We will be using that as well. With this, we will be able to raise an amount of Rs 3 crore and by limiting the expenses, the festival can be conducted at around 3 or 3.5 crores,” he added.
Among the proposals, the Academy has decided to do away with the other allied sections and movie packages such as the ‘Retrospective’, ‘Contemporary Masters in Focus’, ‘Country Focus’ and such.
“This can help reduce the number of theatres required. But we will ensure that the delegates will get to see new movies and that it has not been compromised,” Kamal added. The associated expenses will be reduced this time by doing away with the cash prizes and other extravaganza. There will be no inaugural and closing ceremonies or cultural programmes.
The elaborately decked-up festival office which is part of the festival will not be there this time. And so has the academy decided to do away with the festival book and bulletins.“This time, we will have a festival handbook instead of the regular festival book. And instead of daily bulletins, we will send an epaper on a daily basis. This can cut the cost incurred in printing. Moreover, we are doing away with hoardings and other types of advertisements,” says the Academy chairman. The Academy officials are also in talks with theatre owners to allow the screening of movies at slashed rates or for free. There will be cash prizes this time and it will be just memento and certificates.“Across the world, several movies have been borne out of calamities. The stories of survival will be the focus this time. It is all about rebuilding Kerala,” he added.
M F Thomas, film critic
“The festival has attained such a stature that spending money on publicity can be cut short significantly. The festival needs no introduction and announcing the arrival of it across the city using hoardings is something that can be avoided altogether,” said film critic M F Thomas. He further added that cost can be cut by choosing to opt for a national jury, avoiding arranging accommodation in high-end hotels and by doing away with the Lifetime Achievement award this year. “We have several internationally acclaimed filmmakers in our country. So this time we can avoid opting for an international jury and put in place a jury comprising of expert filmmakers from the country. Moreover, we can arrange the accommodation for guests in good budget-friendly hotels and KDTC. If we inform guests that our state has just survived a crisis, I am sure most guests will be okay with settling in budget hotels. A significant portion of cost incurred can be saved thus. Since we have decided to go ahead with the fest, it has to be a collective effort. The government can take the initiative towards this. Further, this time, we can do away with the lifetime achievement award. The delegate pass can be increased up to Rs 1000, no more than that. I don’t think it fair to tax the delegates on account of this,” he added.
Dr Biju, filmmaker
We can easily conduct the festival in a Rs 3 crore budget. IFFK doesn’t need advertisement. Money can be saved by doing away with the setting up of hoardings. The routine of giving the delegate passes for free can be avoided. A large amount of money is spent on screening fees itself. We can reduce the number of movies screened and save the money. There are talks about a proposal to do away with the international jury. It is a dangerous proposal. We must never do away with the international jury. We can instead opt to have an international jury comprising filmmakers from Asian countries. Deciding to do away with the international jury panel will affect the status of the fest. If we cut the amount spent on the extravaganza, then we can conduct the festival on a shoe-string budget.