CHENNAI: With the government announcing 50% occupancy in theatres, over 500 film enthusiasts attending the 19th International Film Festival in Sathyam Cinemas were stranded on Wednesday. Registered patrons were given ID cards to attend the festival. However, despite having paid for the registration, only a select few were allowed inside on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Frustrated attendees were left cooling their heels and had to wait for volunteers to assign them a token number to enter the respective screens. The fest which always pulls a huge crowd of students also saw a good number of senior citizens, media fraternity, and artists. The senior citizens were the most affected as the organisers could not help them.
“I have been waiting from 7:00 am to watch a film, but I have not been able to. Since there is no arrangement for senior citizens, we are also supposed to wait in line like the rest. When one screen gets occupied, they ask us to go to the other screen which is two floors down, and at this age, it is taxing. I came all the way from Perungalathur to attend the fest,” said G Gunasekaran, a retired banker.
“People have been fighting for seats all day. Had there been better planning, this entire situation could have been avoided,” said Nandhakumar R, a theatre artist. Srinivasan, an official at Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation (ICAF), said that prior intimation about the seating had been sent to the patrons via e-mail. ICAF also stopped the online and physical registrations due to the Covid-19 restrictions.
However, since the registration is non-refundable, patrons are trying everything to catch a seat for themselves. The organising committee has been trying everything in its power to accommodate the people. But only so much can be done. The six-day film festival ended on Thursday.