Govt announces merger of all film bodies under National Film Development Corporation

Bringing all these activities under a single management will reduce the overlap of various activities and ensure better utilisation of public resources, the ministry said in a statement.

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In December last year, nearly 1,539 persons including actors, filmmakers and other members of the Indian film industry had sent a letter to the ministry against the government’s decision to merge all the branches of the Films Division, Directorate of Film Festivals, National Film Archive of India (NFAI) and Children’s Film Society of India with the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC).

The ministry, under former I&B minister Prakash Javadekar, had announced in December 2020 to merge the four public bodies with NFDC, a “loss-making” public sector undertaking.

In the letter, dated December 19, 2021, the signatories expressed surprise that the 2019 Bimal Julka High-Powered Committee report was submitted “without engaging with the primary stakeholders”, including “members of the film fraternity and employees of the above-mentioned institutions”.

“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 organizing various domestic festivals; preservation of filmic content, digitization and restoration of films; and distribution and outreach activities. The ownership of the assets available with these units will, however, remain with the Government of India,” the ministry said.

By the orders issued today, the mandate of production of documentaries that was earlier done by Films Division has been completely transferred to NFDC.

The ministry said the legacy and brand name of Films Division will be taken further and the Production Vertical for production of documentaries in the NFDC will be named as “Films Division”.

“Similarly, the organization of film festivals that was the mandate of Directorate of Films Festivals has been transferred to NFDC. This will bring the organization of different national and international film festivals under one roof, thereby bringing in more synergy and a focused international outreach. Some of the major upcoming Film Festivals to be organized by NFDC are the Mumbai International Film Festival, International Film Festival of India at Goa, and Children’s Film Festival,” it added.