Ministry merges film media units with NFDC
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Wednesday announced the merger of its four film media units– Film Divisions, Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF), National Film Archive of India (NFAI), Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI)– with National Film Development Corporation (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 ministry said in a press note.
Effective from April 1, 2022, the mandate of the Films Division for ‘Production of Documentary Films’ will be transferred to NFDC and will be produced under the production vertical. Meanwhile, the ongoing projects of Production of Documentary Films will be completed by the Films Division as per their extant rules and regulations and no new projects will be taken up by the division. Furthermore, NFDC’s managing director will assign a team under the production vertical which will be headed by an officer of appropriate level for understanding the modalities involved in production of documentary films. The ministry also stated that the director general of Films Division will have to commence the knowledge transfer to NFDC, ensuring the transition, with immediate effect.
As for the revenue, the ministry highlighted that the revenue generated from the activities related to production of documentary films shall accrue to NFDC, which will also be responsible for devising strategies to enhance revenue from the said activities. “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 utilization of existing infrastructure and manpower,” the ministry highlighted.
Meanwhile, the employees of Film Divisions involved in the production of filmic content will be attached under the production vertical of NFDC as a temporary arrangement until further orders. As per the ministry, the sub-unit of the production vertical shall be named ‘Films Division’.
Interestingly, the government of India has made a budgetary allocation of Rs.1,304.52 crore up to 2026 for all these activities, which will be implemented through NFDC.
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