Government tries to take Indian films to world

From jointly producing movies like Thinking of Him, on the life of Rabindranath Tagore, with Argentina and co-producing a film on Bangladeshi independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, the Union information and broadcasting ministry is trying to create international markets for the Indian film industry.

With the Indian film industry being one of the biggest in the world, I&B minister M. Venkaiah Naidu has been sealing tie-ups with several countries in an effort to promote the country’s film industry abroad and to reach out to a global audience.

As part of these efforts, the government has also held several internation film festivals, including the European Union Film Festival featuring 23 movies between July 30 to August 6. Similarly, an Iranian film festival was held between July 17-19 in which 14 movies were screened. The government also played host to the first-ever Brics film festival, held in the first week of September, in which 20 movies were showcased from the Brics nations.

As part of hosting such international events to promote international coorperation, the government is also scheduled to hold the International Film Festival of India at Goa during the later in 2016. The promotion of India’s film indutry is being viewed as an enabler for India to utilise its soft power potential.

Sources said that the government is also exploring possibilities to enhance cooperation with several other countries in the field of film production. The ministry is understood to be making efforts to tie up with several prestigious international festivals, like the Canadian Toronto International Film Festival, in an effort to market Indian films abroad. A few years back, China had sought to enter a co-production agreement with India to jointly make films.