The Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat inaugurated a five day film appreciation course at Suchana Bhawan on Wednesday. The first of its kind workshop is being jointly organised by the Pune based Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and Uttarakhand Film Development Council (UFDC).
Addressing the workshop, the CM expressed confidence that Uttarakhand will soon emerge as preferred destination for movie making. Expressing gratitude to the FTII, Pune, he said that efforts would be made to organise such courses in all the districts of the State. Rawat said that large number of people of State are associated with films in direct or indirect manner. He said that to promote the films, the State Government has exempted movie shooting from tax. From the five day course, organised with the support of FTII, the youth of the State would get technical information about film making and the film producers would get expert manpower here, Rawat opined. Promoting Uttarakhand as film making destination the CM said that the state has favourable environment, breathtaking natural landscapes and very good law and order situation. The State Government is also making effort that natural beauty of the Uttarakhand reaches to the masses through the medium of films, he added.
The Director General of Information and chief executive officer of UFDC, Pankaj Kumar Pandey said that the workshop is being organised for the first time in the State due to the initiative taken by CM Trivendra Singh Rawat.
He said that participants will be given information about the minute details related to the film making by the experts from FTII, Pune and similar courses would be undertaken in Almora and Tehri as well. Apart from this, in July 2018, script writing course would be organised in Dehradun, he informed. Pandey said that courses are being prepared for acting, digital cinematography, digital film production, TV serial, fiction writing and still photography course and child film making. He said that the youth are very enthusiastic about the Film Appreciation Course and as many as 116 applications have been received for the workshop.
The Director FTII, Bhupendra Kainthola said that with this workshop, film makers in the state would get expert manpower from technical point of view. He suggested that youth should take cinema also as an alternative for employment. Kainthola said that Uttarakhand was recently conferred with the Film Friendly State Award which is a good sign for the State. He highlighted the need to develop film culture in the state.
The programme was conducted by Additional Director of Information, Anil Chandola and attended by course director Pankaj Saxena and others.