For the past 14 years, Goa has been providing a common platform through IFFI to the best of global filmmakers to project their excellence in film craft, thus contributing immensely to the appreciation of film cultures of different nations and promoting the culture of peace, harmony and partnership

The State of Goa has been successfully organising the International Film Festival of India for fourteen years and has evolved completely as a filmmaking centre, says National Award winning filmmaker Rajendra Talak who is also the vice-chairman of the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG). “We are producing more local films than ever before. The film society and cinephile in Goa is on the surge.”

Rajendra Talak says Goa has now transformed into a film friendly state with the state’s film loving people embracing film culture. “We have over 3,000 local delegates registering for IFFI from the total of 7,000 registrations. It is amazing.”  In addition to managing IFFI, ESG runs film-friendly programmes in the form of film clubs; screening of National Award winning films and region focused films across the year. ESG has also brought out a Goa Film Fraternity Directory capturing every film professional in the state.

Aiming for another successful execution of IFFI which is in its 49th Edition, ESG is the nodal agency for organsing and providing leadership in logistics. Rajendra Talak is looking ahead for IFFI secretarial to be housed permanently in Goa. “We are also excited that IFFI will be marching towards celebrating its 50th Golden Anniversary in 2019,” states Rajendra Talak.

Going forward, ESG’s aim is to create an IFFI Complex and infrastructure on par with global festive venues, he avers.

With an industry-friendly state policy facilitating permissions and time-bound clearances for film shoots, Goa is a hot favourite for Indian filmmakers. “The film shoots in Goa is on the rise. Filmmakers like Rohit Shetty have shot almost all their films here. We also provide the best film shooting services,” says Rajendra Talak. “We have not had many international films but lot of domestic films are shot in the state.”

The Dabolim airport operates both domestic and international flights. One can reach Goa by rail, road or air from Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi. “This is the biggest attraction whether they are tourists, film shoots or festival delegates,” he says.