Entertainment Society of Goa in association with the Department of Public Health Dentistry, Goa Dental College and Hospital in collaboration with National Tobacco Control Programme, Directorate of Health Services, Goa, announced the winners of the 5th Goa Anti-Tobacco Film Festival 2023 on 31st May 2023 in celebration of World No-Tobacco Day. The festival was held at the Maquinez Palace, Panaji in the presence of Mrs. Delilah M. Lobo, MLA Siolim and Vice Chairman of ESG, Dr. Anita Spadigam, Prof and head, Goa Dental College and Hospital, and Ms. Jyoti Kumari, IAS, CEO of ESG.
The theme of the festival was “We need food, not tobacco”. The aim of the festival is to pick out Ad Films to spread the message of the harmfulness of tobacco and its ill effects in order to decrease the occurrence of Oral Cancer and heart diseases. The festival also helps promote film art through non-profit screenings. The final objective is that of making Goa smoke-free. There were 29 Ad film entries in total, from the two available categories. The theme puts weight on the importance of eliminating tobacco from society. It also advocates for tobacco farmers by suggesting healthier food alternatives that they can cultivate. Activists from Goa Women’s Forum were present at the venue to spread awareness about the ill effects of tobacco. They recently launched the Mothers Against Smoking initiative to prevent smoking addiction in students and young children in general.
The festival was held in two sections, Goa section, and National Section. For the Goa section, the ‘Ad Films’ were in one of the following languages; Konkani, Marathi, Hindi, or English, and the films were produced by a Goan production house or individual. The Ad films were also required to have English subtitles and could not be more than 2 minutes in length. For the National section, the Ad Film was in either English or Hindi and was produced by an Indian production house or individual. This section had the same time limitation and requirement for English subtitles as the Goan section.
In the National section, a film titled ‘Tinku weds Madhubala’ won first place and was awarded a cash prize of 1,00,000 Rs. Films titled ‘Alaav’ and ‘Nirnay’ won second and third place respectively with 50,000 Rs and 30,000 Rs cash prizes respectively. In Goa section, a film titled ‘Duwar’ won first place and was awarded a cash prize of 50,000 Rs. Films titled ‘Smoke and Soil’ and ‘Moments’ won second and third place respectively with 30,000 Rs and 20,000 Rs respectively. The winning films will also be screened as ads to spread awareness across the state.
Despite laws against selling tobacco to minors, there is no effective enforcement of the same, said Jyoti Kumari, CEO of ESG. She also said that is a plea to the government to empower the farmers to grow healthy food crops and not tobacco. “We must remove the auro cultivated around tobacco by films and television. This is a way of countering surrogate advertisements through films,” she added. Mrs. Delilah M. Lobo said that the Ad films must be screened in schools and colleges to spread awareness to the youth. “Winning isn’t the priority, it’s the message behind the film that is important,” she said, as she suggested spreading the message through various constituencies by screening the films in local schools and colleges.
Entertainment Society of Goa awarded the winners of the 5th Goa Anti-Tobacco Film Festival 2023 at the Macquinez Palace, Panjim. With the theme “We need food, not tobacco”, the films submitted are meant to spread awareness about the negative effects of tobacco and to encourage the youth to stay away from tobacco. It also advocates for seeking help for those already addicted. The aim of the ESG with these is to recognize the art of films and ultimately make Goa smoke-free.
