Konkani Film Festival

Governing council members irked over ESG not holding Konkani Film Festival

PANAJI: Some of the members of the governing council of the Entertainment Society of Goa have taken serious objection to the step taken by the CEO of the ESG, Mr Manoj Srivastava, wherein he has sidelined the decision of the governing council to hold a Konkani Film Festival around April 24,
in commemoration of the screening of the first Konkani film, ‘Mogacho Aundo’ on this day and instead, organised the European Union Film Festival.
It may be recalled that at the 42nd governing council meeting of the ESG held on June 15, 2009, under agenda item no 9, the calendar of events of the ESG were put up before the council members by the CEO of the ESG. During discussion on the same, one of the senior most members of the governing council, Mr Tomazinho Cardozo had proposed that the ESG should host a Konkani Film Festival to mark the release of the first Konkani film on April 24, 1950, at Mumbai.
The proposal was unanimously approved by the governing council and the CEO of the ESG was supposed to take necessary action on the same. However, after almost 10 months of this decision, it was conveniently forgotten and no step was taken to host the Konkani Film Festival. On the contrary, the European Union Film Festival was organised on April 24.
Mr Tomazinho Cardozo, who had mooted the idea to hold the Konkani Film Festival eventually had to organise a Konkani Cinema Day on April 24 under the auspices of Tiatr Academy of Goa, headed by him.
Speaking to ‘The Navhind Times’, Mr Cardozo said that the idea to hold a Konkani Film Festival, which would either start or end on April 24 was proposed and approved at the governing council meeting of the ESG with the Chief Minister, Mr Digambar Kamat wholeheartedly supporting the concept. “However, some two weeks back, when I went to the office of the CEO of the ESG to find out about the preparations of the Konkani Film Festival, I was told that a European Union Film Festival was being held instead,” he added.
“I was really hurt by the response of the CEO as well as others holding responsible positions at the ESG, as they had dishonoured the decision of the governing council,” Mr Cardozo stated, further adding that he will not only follow up the matter and ensure that a Konkani Film Festival either begins or ends on April 24, from next year, but would also write a letter to the CEO of the ESG on April 26 in this matter. He further lamented that the ESG staff does not understand the emotions of Goans as attached to certain issues.
“The European Union Film Festival is a travelling film festival and could have been scheduled on some other dates so that Goans could have got best of both film festivals,” Mr Cardozo suggested. Mr Vishnu Wagh, another member of the governing council said that once a decision is taken by the council members, the ESG staff should take the same to its logical conclusion. “If the governing council decisions are just ignored, then why there should be a need for a governing council in the first place,” he questioned, stating that it is not the job of the governing council members to follow up their approved decisions.
“The general observation is that whenever benefits are to be given to Goans the priorities are changed in the negative direction, which is very bad,” Mr Wagh said, pointing out that his own approved proposal as regards honouring Mr Nilesh Naik, a rangoli artist for securing an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records by presenting him with Rs 1 lakh, was totally ignored. “It should be ensured that in the future any decision taken by the governing council of the ESG must be fully honoured and implemented, without any obstruction,” he concluded.
Yet another member of the governing council, Mr Vishal Pai Cacode when contacted told this daily that if any European country was to hold festival of films by its filmmakers, the decision would not have been changed to make way for an Indian Film Festival in that country. Mr Cacode also stated that certain events need to be held on those particular days as those days spell significance just as April 24 is a Konkani Cinema Day. When asked as to whether he knew about the screening of a 7-minute film on Al Jerry Braganza, the first Goan filmmaker of Konkani film, during the inauguration of the European Union Film festival, Mr Cacode said that he came to know about it only through the newspapers.



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