PANAJI: Here is a good news for the students who want to backpack their way to Goa to watch the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) on a shoestring budget.

Instead of hunting down expensive hotels or other accommodation, students and delegates for the 43rd IFFI can now slip into cheap tents, set up by the organisers near the film screening venues.

The 10-day festival begins in Goa on Nov 20 and the tents will be pitched alongside the picturesque Mandovi river, which just skims the capital’s northern flank.

“Those who want to use this facility will just have to pay Rs.300. We are even throwing in breakfast and a 24-hour security arrangement,” vice chairman of the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) Vishnu Wagh told reporters here Thursday.

Over 8,000 delegates from all over the globe attended the IFFI last year, which saw the highest attendance at the gala film event, ever since it moved to Goa permanently in 2004.

Delegates have often complained of expensive accommodation in Goa for the film festival, which coincides with Goa’s tourism season (beginning in October and ending in March), when room rates double across price segments.

The IFFI organisers believe that the tent accommodation would help delegates cut down their cost considerably.

“The village specially offers a new vision of accommodation and a rich public experience, by weaving together the natural ecology, local culture, urban context and a backdrop paradigm of healthy living, a unique experience for the low budget IFFI delegate,” Wagh said.