The beaches of Goa will soon have another lure - the Indian International Film Festival, a la Cannes.
The government is likely to formally announce next week that Goa will be the permanent venue for the annual ten-day festival, sources said.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is scheduled to meet Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and officials of the Directorate of Film Festivals early next week to discuss the issue.
It is unlikely this year's festival would be held in Goa since it would take over 12 months to set up the infrastructure for it. The last festival was held in Delhi in October 2002.
Earlier, Parrikar is understood have to discussed the matter with the minister after his return from his tour of Cannes and London.
The government has been toying with the idea of a permanent venue for the IFFI, to give it an identity like the Cannes Festival. Cannes, in southern France, is world famous for the film festival.
So far, the IFFI has alternated between Delhi and other Indian cities.
The idea of a permanent venue got momentum when the 2001 festival to be held in Bangalore had to be cancelled following a request from the Karnataka government as the state was facing a drought.
