The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, through three different orders on Wednesday, transferred the mandate of production of documentaries and short films; organisation of film festivals; and preservation of films to the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), which functions under the Ministry.
Stating that the mandate of the Films Division, Directorate of Film Festivals, National Film Archives of India and Children’s Film Society, India had been transferred to the NFDC, the Ministry said: “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.”
The ownership of the assets available with these units will remain with the Central government. According to the orders, the mandate of production of documentaries that was earlier done by the Films Division has been completely transferred to the NFDC with effect from April 1. The legacy and brand name of Films Division will be taken further and the production vertical of the NFDC will be named as the Films Division.
Similarly, the organisation of film festivals that was the Directorate of Films Festivals’ mandate has been transferred to the NFDC. Some of the major upcoming film festivals to be organised by the NFDC are the Mumbai International Film Festival, the International Film Festival of India at Goa, and the Children’s Film Festival.
The preservation-related activities carried out earlier by the National Film Archives of India have also been transferred to the NFDC.
The Ministry said: “Financial incentives for audio-visual co-productions with foreign countries and for promotion of shooting of foreign films in India have also been approved by the government to further stimulate the Audio-Visual service sector of the economy and promote creative and technical services,. This will also be spearheaded by the the NFDC through its Film Facilitation Office.”
The government has made a budgetary allocation of ₹1,304.52 crore up to 2026 for all these activities, to be implemented through the NFDC.
In December, 2020, the Union Cabinet had decided to merge four of its film media units — Films Division, Directorate of Film Festivals, National Film Archive of India, and Children’s Film Society, India with the National Film Development Corporation Limited — by expanding the Memorandum of Articles of Association of NFDC.
The Ministry had, in January, made public the recommendations of an expert committee headed by former I&B Secretary Bimal Julka in this regard.
