MUMBAI: Brilliant Entertainment Networks (Ben) has been appointed as the official event management agency for the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2006, to be held in Goa this November. The Delhi based company was selected after an elaborate three month selection procedure.

Out of seven applicants three firms were short-listed by the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), which is the state owned nodal agency associated with organising International Film Festivals. These included two Mumbai based firms, Wizcraft and 360 degrees Times Infotainment and Delhi based Brilliant Entertainment Networks.

The IFFI-2004 and IFFI-2005 were handled by 360 degrees and Wizcraft respectively, however Ben walked away with the maximum scores this year. From a total of 100 points in marketing and technical expertise, Ben outscored the others two by a huge margin, the scores being: Ben - 96.4, Times Infortainment - 56 and Wizcraft - 44.

The state government has been entrusted by the Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and therefore, this will be the first time that an event management agency will take care of the inaugural and closing ceremonies too. ESG chief secretary J.P.Singh said, "The firm has been selected because of their creative design and marketing strategy."

Ben Director Raman Raheja added, "This is one of the biggest projects of our Events industry. IFFI-2006 gives us an opportunity to use our technical and creative expertise to take this event to the level of Cannes Film Festival."