After fifty glorious cinematic years, one of India’s premiere film-training institutes, the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), is all set for a new beginning. As a run-up to the conclusion of the institute’s golden jubilee year, varied events featuring arts, other than cinema, will take the centre stage in early 2011. Contemporary international and Indian names in the field of sculpture and fine arts will be featured in a four-day exhibition organized by a Mumbai-based curator at the institute premises, beginning from January 14. DVDs of select diploma films, made by FTII students, will also be available during the event.

“Some 12 to 13 diploma films from every decade starting from the 60s will be short-listed and made into DVDs. They will be released sometime in mid-March, the time when FTII’s golden jubilee year shall end,” said Pankaj Rag, director of FTII.

The golden jubilee celebrations that began on March 20, 2010, with a grand opening ceremony at the institute, saw many interesting programs, like seminars on Uniqueness of the Indian Script, Cinema against Communalism, and lectures on television broadcasting, which were held during the last few months. “The international students’ film festival that was organized by the institute a couple of months ago was attended by representatives of more than 23 countries. It was a milestone occasion in the history of FTII. Several other cultural programs and plays held during this year also highlighted the significance of the institute’s 50th year,” Rag went on to say.

FTII’s alumni association, the GRAFTII, will provide a much befitting grand finale to their alma mater’s golden jubilee year. “GRAFTII is working on a book that shall highlight the 50 glorious years of FTII. Furthermore, a film is also being made, which shall cover the developments at the institute in the last five decades. The book and the film will be unveiled during the closing ceremony in March 2011,” informed Rag.

Meanwhile, the film experts in the PK Nair Committee, which was formed in November this year, are busy chalking out an up gradation plan for FTII. After relentless agitation against the draft report for the institute’s proposed upgrade drawn up by the Gurgaon-based Hewitt Associates, FTII students are eagerly waiting for the PK Nair Committee report which is expected to be out within the next two months.

The National Film Archive of India (NFAI) will also restore over 600 diploma films, as part of a massive restoration plan. Christened as the National Film Heritage Mission, the brainchild of NFAI’s late director, Vijay Jadhav, is awaiting for approval from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. “The Mission is expected to get a final approval anytime in the year 2011. It includes a massive plan to digitize and restore all the titles that are archived at NFAI, as well as those from the Children’s Film Society of India, Films’ Division, FTII, and National Film Development Corporation. As per Mr Jadhav’s idea, a proposal was submitted to the I&B ministry last year with a requested budget of Rs 600 crore,” said film preservation officer at the NFAI, Kiran Dhiwar.

NFAI suffered a major setback with the untimely demise of Jadhav on December 13, who was prepared to launch several new programs under his leadership. “NFAI will dedicate an exhibition to Jadhav based on film posters preserved at NFAI, which will be a part of the forthcoming Pune International Film Festival (PIFF),” said Dhiwar.

Digitization of more than 300 titles preserved at the NFAI has been the body’s major achievement. Another 150 to 200 titles are also going to be digitized within a year, a plan which will be merged in the National Film Heritage Mission once it gets a go-ahead from the ministry.

A little over a year ago, Jadhav was instrumental in facilitating the cataloging, scanning, and indexing of several thousands of film manuscripts, posters, booklets, and other literature, with technical assistance from a Hyderabad-based firm. “The process of cataloging, scanning, and indexing this literature is still on and will take few more months to complete. Once the process gets completed, it will help us access all our data online systematically,” said Dhiwar. The PIFF 2011 shall also feature over 20 classics and retrospectives from NFAI.

–Siddhartha Laik