In a bid to showcase inclusivity and nurture a new generation of exceptional performers, the International Film Festival of India and Film & Television Institute of India, Pune, organised a basic acting workshop for disabled persons.
This workshop, which started on Monday, will continue till November 28. A total of 15 participants from various parts of Goa are taking part in this acting workshop.
The eight days course, which is specially organised to impart skills to the differently abled persons from the State, received a warm response. Durgadas Gaunekar, who came from Ponda, said that it was a very energising and positive experience for him to be part of the workshop. "Here, I learnt some new things about acting and how much effort and work goes into it. It is a good initiative by the organisers to include us in this workshop," he added.
Vishant Nagvekar, a state government officer from Altinho, Panjim, opined that his first-day experience was good. "I saw something new and the group activity undertaken by the instructor was enriching. Before this workshop, I have never seen such a course. Such workshops should be organised twice a year by FTII," he said.
Shripad Pai Bir of Chimbel said that the exercises shown during the workshop were definitely going to help the disabled to improve their acting skills. "Never before in Goa, such a workshop was held for differently abled persons. I will attend this course on all eight days," he stated.
Moises Rodrigues from Vasco, who learnt about the course from social media, was very happy to be a part of the event. There are around 30,000 differently-abled people in Goa as per his knowledge. "But most of the infrastructure around us is not differently-abled friendly. This course was encouraging and we made a list of 17 participants, but 15 attended today." Rodrigues, who also intends to attend the course on all eight days, said he will encourage other differently-abled persons to attend this workshop.
The workshop trainer, Jijoy P R, stated that in India differently-abled people were mostly neglected although they have their rights and special care needs. "I feel if we are able to identify their acting ability, their confidence level will drastically improve," he added.
He said that every differently abled person deserves to live a better and happy life. "During the workshop," he said, "we are planning to do voice training, acting games, acting exercises, sense memory classes etc. My experience with them on the first day was very good."