The Kozhikode International Film Festival had a tough running as the State government had not released the expected funds even on Thursday, its concluding day.
The festival, part of the golden jubilee celebrations of the City Corporation, survived its sixth day on Wednesday with the money collected for delegate passes. The festival budget was earlier cut down from Rs.16 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh. But even the reduced sum has not reached the hands of the organisers. The Corporation had requested the government to release the amount three weeks ago. A reply is still awaited.
“With the lower budget, we could not procure the prints of all the films that we intended to screen. Even this amount is yet to reach us. But still we managed to conduct the festival without any serious glitches, thanks to the money generated from delegate passes and the cooperation of the film-lovers of Kozhikode,” K.J. Thomas, convener of the festival, said.
He said more than 1,100 delegate passes were sold for the screening at Tagore Theatre, which seats 950. But the audience strength was between 500 and 600. Because of the shortage of funds, film-makers could not be invited for the open forums.
However, Janamma Kunjunni, chairperson of the film festival, said the funds would be cleared soon. “Permissive sanction was given for Rs. 50 lakh for the Corporation’s golden jubilee celebrations,” she said.
