Makers can screen S Durga at other film fests : IFFI co-organiser

Makers of S Durga can screen the film at other film festivals, Rajendra Talak, Vice Chairperson of the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), a co-host of the festival along with National Film Development Corporationsaid on Tuesday.

"Let us focus on good cinema happening, rather than a small part of a minor controversy. There are other festivals, so let them screen there," he said when asked about the controversy generated by the Sanal Kumar Sasidharan film, which was not screened at the festival despite a prolonged tussle between the festival director and the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

S Durga was dropped from the screening schedule of the Indian Panorama section of the IFFI along with another film Nude, triggering controversy.  The court directed IFFI to screen the film at the festival after a censored version of the movie was screened for the jury, which voted 7-4 in favour of screening it, a day before the festival was to close on November 28.

On the closing day, the Central Board for Film Certification stepped and banned the film from being screened at the festival until a fresh certificate was obtained by the filmmaker. The film had already travelled to dozens of film festivals globally, before it was scheduled to be screened at IFFI, which started in the coastal state on November 20.