It’s difficult to ignore French cinema at the film festival in Goa. Alain Corneau is here presenting his latest film “The Second Wind”, a French gangster film set in the 1960s. Film noir is a genre Corneau loves and it shows in this remake of a 1966 French classic.

Turns out it was Monica Bellucci’s idea to dye her hair blonde for her role as a gangster’s moll. A decision Corneau doesn’t regret.

I thought the use of vivid blue and red colours in “The Second Wind” is an influence from Bollywood. But Corneau tells me I am wrong - his influence was cinema from Hong Kong and South Korea.

A decade or so ago, the Indophile made a small-budget French film in Mumbai and Goa. And he’s not averse to coming back for a film in India - albeit with European protagonists.

Denis Dercourt is in Goa too with “Turning Pages” - a film he describes as the story of revenge set in the world of European classical music.

The 2006 film was the first box-office success after five duds for the accomplished viola player and Dercourt admits he’s finding it tough to move on to his next film.

There are several other French films being shown at Goa - among them is the year’s action blockbuster “Taxi 4″ and the romantic comedy “Change of Address”. As for filmmaker Jan Kounen, he’s using humour to expose the world of glamour and advertising in his dark comedy “99 Francs”.

Dercourt says the French churn out some 250 films a year, a fourth of India’s output. But it certainly seems they are going to more places.

Au revoir, anyone?

Too many films. Too little time. Nearly 200 films from more than 40 countries are being shown during the 11-day film festival in Goa, India. Add to this the daily grind of press conferences and interviews. Aaargh! To attend or not to attend, that is the question.

I really have to catch up on sleep — yawning during a screening of Ingmar Bergman’s “Wild Strawberries” is really not a good sign. But thanks to much of Bollywood ignoring the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) this year, I don’t have the added stress of chasing popular actors.

Fans go berserk when they spot a Bollywood star - and thankfully I haven’t been witness to much of that here. The only exception was Shah Rukh Khan. At a party on the night of the opening ceremony, security personnel had a tough time keeping fans away from the VIP area. I remember one teenager rushing back in triumph, screaming “I touched him!” and being congratulated by some of her less unfortunate peers.

Excitement also built up around Amitabh Bachchan attending the Indian premiere of “The Last Lear” on Friday with fans lining up on both sides of the red carpet. But disappointment was writ large on their faces when only director Rituparno Ghosh walked in.

Not surprisingly, regional-language actors and directors have been able to move around freely. In fact, after the screening of filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Malayalam-language “Naalu Pennungal” (Four Women), a woman walked past actress Geethu Mohandas, looked back and asked “Weren’t you in this film?”

And when I was talking to director Sameer Hanchate, whose film “Gafla” (Scam) is being screened here, a man selling mobile phone connections walked up to him and asked if he wanted one.

Well, the glitz and glamour may be missing from Goa this time but no one’s really complaining. After all, a film festival should be about good films and IFFI 2007 is a success on that count.

You can’t really forget your first sight of Goa as the plane lands. Before you is the shimmering blue of the Arabian Sea, the golden sands of its world-famous beaches and the leafy green of limitless palm groves.

It’s pleasant weather here - peak tourist season has just kicked off - and the place has a global feel , so much so that foreigners don’t even merit curious glances from Goans. The states population is just 1.4 million but it doubles around this time - including many visitors from other parts of India .

It’s the fourth straight year the International Film Festival of India, is being held in this tourist haven, but despite being India’s largest, it hasn’t quite registered on the global festival map. But maybe there’s hope.

A chatty Italian festival goer on Day 2 was upbeat. Water is the connecting thread for film festivals, he said - Cannes and Venice and now Goa - and I would not argue. There is something refreshing about the breeze coming in from the Mandovi river as I wait on the waterfront next to the main venue.

And if beaches are the measure of a film festival’s success, you can’t really go wrong with Goa.

More on the films here in my next post.