The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on film festivals, whose organizers have been oscillating between holding online and physical events while also juggling their dates to make the best possible arrangements. Another festival whose plans have gone awry is the Pune International Film Festival (PIFF), which is usually held mid-January every year.
The 51st edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which is held in November every year, was postponed due to the pandemic and its new dates are now 14-24 January 2021. This effectively means that IFFI and PIFF will overlap, a situation best avoided.
PIFF festival director Jabbar Patel was quoted in The Indian Express newspaper's website as saying, “IFFI has moved into our slot this year due to COVID-19. We are working on new dates and will announce them in about a week.” He added, “We will have to move to a new slot because two big festivals cannot take place parallelly. First of all, many cinephiles from Pune attend the IFFI, Goa every year and they will have to choose one over the other. Secondly, we screen some important films from the IFFI selection and we won’t get the DCPs [Digital Cinema Packages] of those films if the festivals are held concurrently.”
While no announcement has been made yet about the format that will be adopted by the PIFF's organizers, it has been announced that the IFFI would be held in a hybrid format and the number of delegates would be capped at 2,500 this year.