Panaji: Not a single Goan film features in the official section of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2025, as per the list uploaded on the festival’s website. This glaring omission exposes the Entertainment Society of Goa’s (ESG) continuing failure to nurture and promote local filmmakers, a tragic irony in the very land that hosts one of the world’s oldest and most celebrated film festivals, stated former Member of Governing Body of ESG Vishal Pai Cacode.
While crores are being splurged on red carpets, events, and cosmetic spectacles, Goan cinema continues to be starved of even the most basic support. The Goa Film Finance Scheme, which was meant to empower local producers and sustain regional cinema, has become almost dormant. Many Goan filmmakers have been struggling for years to access financial assistance trapped in endless paperwork, opaque criteria, and official apathy, said Vishal Pai Cacode.
Equally alarming is ESG’s failure to create even minimal film-making infrastructure in the state. Despite two decades of IFFI in Goa, there is still no proper editing studio, equipment bank, crane facility, or professional light and sound setup available for local use. The absence of such essential resources forces young filmmakers to rely on private vendors from outside Goa, drastically inflating production costs and discouraging local talent, he said.
Instead of investing in sustainable creative infrastructure and supporting Goan stories, ESG’s focus appears to have shifted entirely toward event management and commission-driven contracts. The result is a festival that glitters on the surface but fails to reflect the voices of the land that hosts it, Vishal Pai Cacode said.
IFFI must once again become a festival of the people and for the artists, not a playground for contractors and commission agents. Goa’s film community deserves more than tokenism; it deserves opportunity, dignity, and a genuine platform to shine, said Vishal Pai Cacode.
