IFFI gets flak for its all-male jury panel in 'Indian Panorama' Section
The 56th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will be held in Panaji, Goa, from November 20 to 28 and will feature over 240 films from 81 countries, including 13 world premieres, five international premieres and 44 Asian premieres. With filmmaker Shekhar Kapur serving as the festival director, IFFI also unveiled its jury for the ‘Indian Panorama’ section on Monday. Actor Raja Bundela heads the ‘Feature Film’ jury, while Dharam Gulati leads the jury for the ‘Non-Feature’ category. Other jury members include Krishna Hebbale, Kamlesh K Mishra, Malay Ray, Subhash Sehgal, Jadumoni Dutta, Aroon Baksi, Asim Sinha, Ashok Sharan, Sukumar Jatania, BS Basavaraju, Amaresh Chakrabarti and Napoleon Thanga. The internet was quick to point out that the jury didn’t have any women.
The comments section of IFFI’s ‘Instagram’ had posts from users who highlighted this. “All men?” asked a user. “Lack of women in the jury is glaring, do better!” commented another. “Women jury in a separate post?” asked a user sarcastically. Another one added on the same lines: “Is there a separate panel for women with women-only feature films with an all-women jury? Or…?”
Some ‘Instagram’ users were more direct with their criticism. One of them asked, “Did you not find any women on the jury in all of India?” “Women filmmakers are busy making the headlines, so they felt a little left out. Hence, they made a manel!” remarked another. In the past year, female filmmakers have made many notable films in Indian cinema.
The film gala will feature an extensive slate of 21 masterclasses and panel discussions across 10 formats at Kala Academy, bringing together some of the most prominent names in Indian and international cinema. Participants include Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Anupam Kher, Aamir Khan, Bobby Deol, Ravi Varman, Kushboo Sundar, Suhasini Maniratnam, Christopher Charles Corbould, Pete Draper and Sreekar Prasad. The ‘Indian Panorama’ section will feature 25 feature films, 20 non-feature films and five debut features. Tamil film ‘Amaran’, directed by Rajkumar Periyasamy and starring Sivakarthikeyan and Sai Pallavi, will open the feature category, while ‘Kakori’ will open the non-feature section.
