For Goa and its residents, carnivals are very much part of their lives. This year, the 56th International Film Festival of India, Goa, kicked off Thursday evening with a grand parade on the Panaji streets—from the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) office to Kala Academy stretch—as several folk troupes from different parts of the country performed.

They were followed by a series of cinema-related tableaux, celebrating recent successful cinematic outings as well as offering glimpses of popular movies and works of film bodies. As the evening progressed with revellers occupying the makeshift seating arrangements made on the Panaji Promenade by the Mandovi river, it became a blend of Indian cultural elements and cinematic achievements.

For the past several years, the IFFI opening ceremony

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