India’s IFFI, Film Bazaar Reveal Vision for Enhanced 2023 Edition (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Naman Ramachandran The sheer popularity of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is leading to its expansion this year, while sister event Film Bazaar, South Asia’s largest content market, will have a focus on new technology, one of the country’s top film officials has revealed.

The Indian government-backed events run in parallel in Goa in November each year in close geographic proximity. In 2022, demand for tickets at the public-facing IFFI was so strong that reservations had to be paused on the second day of the festival. “We are trying to expand IFFI to such a scale where we will be able to accommodate more films, more people, more venues,” Prithul Kumar, Joint Secretary, Films, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and MD, National Film Development Corporation, told Variety.

Efforts are on to add at least three more venues, Kumar said. While a film attracted some criticism from a jury member last year, the event’s global sheen has seen the festival already attract a record number of entries months before it is due to take place. “The film programming is going to be much more elaborate this time,” Kumar said. “Last year we started integrating a lot of gala screenings and red carpets as a part of IFFI, which we are already charting out this year with the major production houses that the films which are releasing around that time will premiere there.” A vital component of IFFI are the masterclasses, which last year attracted the likes of Oscar winners Mark Osborne and A.R.