Tamil Nadu - Madurai

Celebrating 60 years with films

MADURAI: Films Division of Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Media Research Centre, Department of Philosophy, Madura College, have come together to celebrate the diamond jubilee of the division by organising a two-day festival here on Wednesday and Thursday.

Addressing the audience after inaugurating the festival at the Madura College, I. Singaram, Registrar, Madurai Kamaraj University, said that the Films Division had served the noble cause of educating the masses through its informative films, covering a wide range of topics embracing all subjects of study, and also bringing in harmony across the nation. R. Murali, Head, Department of Philosophy, in his address, said that media had played a prominent role in designing the political landscape of the nation at any given point of time in history and urged the students to watch alternative cinema and engage in debates. Madura College had planned to establish a ‘Students Forum’ to run debates and discussions on films and work towards sensitising the general public to modes of watching alternative films, he said.

Films Division of India for the last sixty years has played a significant role in not only recording the historical evolution of post-colonial India but also in educating a larger audience and taking it to the rural masses. It is the largest documentary film production centre in the world. Doyens of Indian cinema like Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha, Basu Bhattacharya, V. Shantaram, L. V. Prasad, Shyam Benegal and Adoor Gopalakrishnan have been associated with it.

The two-day festival will feature the screening of 30 films chosen from diverse areas and fields of interest. During the inaugural session, films like ‘Framing Time’ directed by Manohar Singh Bisht (which portrays the historical genesis of Films Division of India), ‘Bhagat Singh,’ directed by Prem Prakash, and ‘Mahakavi Bharathi’ (a film, made in 1982, that takes us back to the days of colonial rule and highlights the works of the poet at different geographical locations) were screened.

An international digital archive that will allow people to download films made by the Films Division and a Moving Image Cinema Museum in Mumbai which will exhibit costumes used in old films and details of film set designs amid others have been planned by the Ministry.

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