Locally Filmy

While Satish Jakatdar,Secretary FFSI and head of Aashay Film Club attributes the rise of participants to good publicity,film analyst Anil Jhankar feels that the chapter has been reaching out to people in the interiors of the state by tying up with colleges and universities. “It is an essential medium. When the professors and teachers are involved,the students come in on their own. It is interesting to see that despite coming from rural Maharashtra,most students are curious to learn about world cinema,” he says.

Looking at the response the course fetched in its first year,the FFSI approached the Information and Broadcasting Ministry (I&BM) in 2006 for conducting similar courses in different parts of the country in other regional languages. They were given a go-ahead by I&BM in the same year. Apart from Maharashtra,the FFSI is conducting similar courses in places like Kolkata,Bangalore,Chennai and Trivandrum in the regional languages. Unlike the month long FA courses that are conducted by the National film Archives of India (NFAI) and the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII),the FFSI FA course is just for eight days. Also,owing to its short duration,instead of elaborate and in-depth analysis,the course briefly covers cinema,world cinema,documentaries,language in movies and film discussions.

The course in Pune will be conducted at the NFAI theatre from September 2 to 8 and will include guest lectures,seminars,film discussions and also interactions with film-makers. Those giving the lectures include Prashant Patharbe (director NFAI),Anil Jhankar (film researcher and author),Samar Nakhate (ex-Dean FTII,and visiting faculty FTII),Milind Damle (ex-FTII student and filmmaker) amongst others. According to Jakatdar they will be showing 10 films and 20 documentaries along with a total of 28 guest lectures. “Movies like Pather Panchali,and documentaries like Big City Blues,which are accepted in international formats for FA courses,will be shown,” he adds.

Despite the rise in film enthusiasts attending the course,Jakatdar hints against making it a bi-annual event. “Film studies are more of a course that is done by literature enthusiasts and academics. This FA course requires skilled teachers conversant in the regional language. Currently we are falling short of such professionals. If that increases then FA courses too can find the kind of increase,we are all hoping for,” he says.