ESG looking for sponsorships to reduce costs at International Film Festival of India

PANAJI: Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) CEO Ameya Abhyankar on Wednesday said that the society is eyeing sponsorships to cut costs ahead of the 47th edition of the International Film Festival of India (Iffi), to be held in the state from November 20 to 28.
“We aim to raise 20-25% of the funds through sponsorship. This will be for items such as delegate passes, kits, etc, where we can liquidate costs.We’ve saved 80 lakh this year on lights that have been sponsored by Barco,” he said.
The budget for this year’s edition of the festival is 13.5 crore. Almost 3 crore will be raised through sponsorship.
Abhyankar added that the ESG in the process of signing an agreement with a prominent mobile service provider for free internet for delegates. It will also meet with NFDC to look at the possibility of making the four-day Film Bazaar coterminous with the duration of Iffi.
As many as 4,500 delegates have registered for the 47th International Film Festival of India (Iffi) so far, vice-chairman, Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), Rajendra Talak, said, adding that decor tenders have been finalized and programme schedules and film synopses would be uploaded soon.
Korea will be the focus country this year. Besides screening a host of international and regional films, the eight-day festival will have collaborations with the FTII and Unesco for some of its activities.
ESG has also tied up with the Serendipity Arts Festival for cinematic talks and CII for corporate involvement. A children’s film village will be set up at Mahavir garden, Campal, mobile vans will screen 10 Konkani films in the hinterlands and Konkani-Marathi film screenings will be organized for non-delegates, among other activities.