New outfit likely to run next IFFI

If the information and broadcasting ministry has its way, a special purpose vehicle would soon be put in place for the purpose of organizing the next International Film Festival of India in Panaji, Goa from November 20 to 30, 2014.

This was revealed here by the information and broadcasting secretary Uday Kumar Verma, who also added that all financial resources allocated for IFFI would be transferred to this new body and it would be given a free rein to run the show.

“The idea,” he said, “is to streamline the conduct of the film festival.” Mr Verma spoke to this correspondent in the India Pavilion located in the International Village of the 66th Cannes Film Festival.

Among several other initiatives that the ministry has taken is the setting up of a panel headed by a retired high court judge to recommend amendments to the Cinematograph Act of 1952. “India has changed completely in recent decades and it is, therefore, time to have a relook at the censorship rules,” Mr Verma said.

“Eminent people like Sharmila Tagore, Leela Samson and Javed Akhtar are on the committee,” he said.

“We are all for freedom of artistic expression, so the efforts would be to protect it even as efforts are made to prevent the medium of cinema being exploited by some elements to foment any kind of trouble in the country,” the I&B secretary said.

Also on the anvil is a move to increase the number of classifications for films. “India is a vulnerable country on account of the high illiteracy rate. Cinema is a powerful medium and we have people who do not have the ability to listen to an idea and reject it. These sensibilities need to be understood by the filmmakers,” he added.

He also indicated that a review of the National Film Development Corporation is on the cards. “We want to make NFDC a more dynamic organization,” he said.

Referring to the plan to turn New Delhi’s Films Division auditorium on Mahadev Road into a hub for independent cinema, Mr Verma said once that process is completed the question of what kind of support NFDC would need will be flagged. “We must remember that India is a still a poor country and allocation of resources to such initiatives cannot be done without accountability to Parliament,” he pointed out.