Mumbai: The ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB), through three different orders, transferred the mandate of the production of documentaries and short films, organisation of film festivals and the preservation of films to the National Film Development Corp (NFDC), a PSU working under the ministry.
The government of India has made a budgetary allocation of Rs 1304.52 crore up to 2026 for all these activities, which will be implemented through NFDC.
In order to further strengthen the NFDC, it has been decided that the revenues generated by these activities will also accrue to NFDC. The merger of Film Media Units under the Corporation will ensure a balanced and synergised development of the Indian cinema in all its genres- feature films, documentaries, children’s content, animation and short films and will lead to better and efficient utilisation of existing infrastructure and manpower.
The production of documentaries was earlier done by Films Division. The legacy and brand name of Films Division will be taken further and the production vertical for production of documentaries in the NFDC will be named as 'Films Division.'
Similarly, the organisation of film festivals that was the mandate of the Directorate of Films Festivals has been transferred to NFDC. This will bring the organisation of different national and international film festivals under one roof, thereby bringing in more synergy and a focused international outreach. Some of the major upcoming Film Festivals to be organised by NFDC are the Mumbai International Film Festival, International Film Festival of India at Goa, and Children’s Film Festival.
The Preservation related activities that are carried out by National Film Archives of India have also been transferred to NFDC. The National Film Heritage Mission aiming at digitisation and restoration of films and documentaries will now be implemented by NFDC.
Bringing all these activities under a single management will reduce the overlap of various activities and ensure better utilisation of public resources. The mandate of production of feature films is already being carried out by NFDC. It will give a strong impetus to the production of films of all genres including feature films, documentaries, children films and animation films; promotion of films through participation in different international festivals and organising various domestic festivals; preservation of filmic content, digitisation and restoration of films; and distribution and outreach activities. The ownership of the assets available with these units will, however, remain with the Government of India.
Audio Visual Service is one of the 12 Champion Service sectors identified by Dept of Commerce, and the MIB is the nodal Ministry for this sector. Financial incentives for audio-visual co-productions with foreign countries and for promotion of shooting of foreign films in India have also been approved by the Government to further stimulate the Audio-Visual service sector of the economy and promote creative and technical services. This will also be spearheaded by the NFDC through its Film Facilitation Office.
In December 2020, the union cabinet had decided to merge four of its film media units, namely Films Division, Directorate of Film Festivals, Directorate of Film Festivals, and Children’s Film Society, India with the National Film Development Corporation Ltd. by expanding the Memorandum of Articles of Association of NFDC, which will then carry out all the activities hitherto performed by them with the objective of ensuring synergy, convergence of activities & better utilisation of resources. The ministry had shared these major policy decisions in its interaction with the film industry held in Chennai and Mumbai earlier this month.
