SRFTI drops out as venue for Wench Film Festival’s Kolkata screenings

If things had gone as planned Sapna Bhavnani would be unveiling the sixth edition of the Wench Film Festival at Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute SRFTI in Kolkata today But events over the past week have compelled the filmmaker to cancel the Kolkata leg of the horror film festivallsquoFlyrsquo a short film will be screened at the festival in MumbaiThings came undone a week ago when the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting IampB shared a few updates with her which included the removal of SRFTI as the venue ldquoOn February 11 SRFTIrsquos PR manager informed me that they were told to put all festival activities on hold A day later my team member got an email from the IampB ministry in which they had mentioned the two films that they didnrsquot clear for screening Also they removed SRFTI as the venue We never heard directly from the instituterdquo she sharedWith little time to arrangea new venue Bhavnani hadto cancel the screenings Sheadded ldquoIt was too late for me to even set up a whole screening in Kolkata in such short notice Many of the filmmakers whose films we were to screen are also alumni of SRFTI so they were naturally very excited for the festival When we announced the cancellation one of them said lsquoWe had already bought our tickets and booked a hotel on a nonrefundable feersquo So I thought we have to clear our name because we have absolutely nothing to do with this As a festival we have done everything we were required to do We needed an NOC so we provided that We were even setting up master classes for the college without budgets They told us they would give us budgets but you didnrsquot But the point being is that there is still radio silenceThe cancellation hurt her on many levels the filmmaker said ldquoItrsquos been very sad for us especially since this is a film school I dont know what they have given into what the backstory is because they have not given us any idea if its censorship or some pressure Whatever it is we dont know but the point is youre a film school You should not be able to give into all this As a film school you should not even censor anything Hence Im really disappointed at the way the whole thing went down We have a great audience base in Kolkata that reaches out to us all the time so a lot of people were very disappointed I obviously refunded all the money for the passes that we had collected Andobviously Im going to cancel our MoU because weve not heard from SRFTI and we dont want to work with someone who has kind of jeopardised our entire reputation of building such a massive festivalrdquoThis is not the only last minute development that the festival director had to deal with as we learnt that National Film Development Corporation of India NFDC dropped out as the fests Mumbai venue the same week While Bhavnani had lockedAlliance Francaise de Bombay for the Mumbai leg since the beginning itself in months leading up to the festival the filmmaker got to know that NFDC was open to collaborating with festivals for their venueWhen we received that email I was thrilled I spoke to people atAlliance Francaise I told them Well still be partners Well just move the venue there and it might be really wonderful for our filmmakers to have a bigger theater We followed whatever protocol was needed to get a clearance from NFDC In the meantime we submitted our final selection of films to the censor and we got an NOC from them Until then our venue partners were SRFTI andAlliance Francaise If we had to proceed ahead with NFDC we needed a letter from them saying they were okay to screen our films That letter has to be submitted to the censor Then they said they were coming on board and we could use their logo So we began announcing that on our social media But we still needed a formal letter of confirmation That took some time and finally they sent us the letter confirming us as our venue partner But as we began our promotions on social media we saw that they werent accepting our posts I sent them an email last Thursday asking for clarity In the evening we received an email saying Were very sorry Because of unforeseen circumstances we cant be a venue partner Of course the filmmakers were disheartenedPutting this episode behind her Bhavnani is directing energies towards the upcoming Mumbai leg of the festival which is slated to take place at Alliance Francaise de Bombay from February 26 to March 1 We love the vibe of this venue They were always supposed to be our collaborators Bhavnani saidThe feeling is mutual forAlliance Francaise de Bombay as its executive directorLaurent Vergainsaid Our association with the Wench Film Festival over the past year has been a truly rewarding journey We are excited about the upcoming festival this February which promises a dynamic lineup of films and conversations We look forward to welcoming cinephiles foranother edition that celebrates imagination diversity and the power of cinema to connectcommunitiesThe upcoming edition will feature 54 films with filmmaker Ritesh GuptasThe Red Mask set to open the festival While Mother of Flies by Adams Family will bring the curtains down on the horrorscififantasy fest