Goa will be ready to host IFFI by November 15: CM

Panaji, Nov 4 (PTI) Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday said that the preparations for the upcoming International Film Festival of India (IFFI) are in final stages and are expected to be complete by November 15.

The 55th edition of IFFI will be held in Goa from November 20 to November 28.

"We will be ready to host the festival by November 15. I will chair a meeting on November 18 to review the preparations," Sawant told reporters.

As an added attraction, the chief minister said the government will hold a special float parade on November 22 to showcase the best of Shigmo and Carnival, two of the prominent festivals in the coastal state.

The float parade will start from Kala Academy and will take the route alongside River Mandovi, he added.

Sawant said the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) will be the nodal agency to host IFFI in association with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Till date, 3,659 people have registered online as delegates for the festival, he said.

"Annually, there are 8,000 delegates who register online for this festival. The number of registrations tends to increase during the last 10 days," Sawant said.

Open-air screening of the movies will also be organised during the nine-day gala at venues such as Miramar Beach (near Panaji), Ravindra Bhavan, Margao (South Goa) and at Aguada Helipad (North Goa), he said.

The estimated expenditure on the festival would cost around Rs 26 crore, the CM added.

A detailed programme of the gala will be unveiled at a later date. PTI RPS RDS RDS