MSFDS secretary hard-sells state's potential
Source: Chronicle News Service
Panaji, November 24 2022:
Participating in the posh Film Bazar of the ongoing International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Manipur State Film Development Society (MSFDS) secretary Sunzu Bachaspatimayum is pitching for making Manipur their next filming location to film producers attending the Producers' Lab.
State representatives of Bihar, Pondicherry and Manipur were given a platform to interact with 26 film producers of India and Bangladesh, and convince them to come to their respective states to shoot their films and avail attractive incentives.
While the representative of Bihar informed the producers that it is rolling out the country's most comprehensive film policy along with attractive incentives to the tune of Rs 3.5 crore if producers chose to shoot their films in Bihar, the representative of Tourism Board of Pondicherry said that the union territory that has white sandy beaches and French architecture is yet to formulate a film policy of its own, nevertheless it offers sponsorship to filmmakers shooting their films in the union territory.
Luring producers to make Manipur their next him shooting destination, the MSFDS secretary told producers that the state has a film policy, which mentions of offering incentives to producers who shoot their film in the state.
He, however, said that the exact amount and conditions of the incentives are in the process of formulation.
The secretary informed the producers that Manipur, as of now, does not charges any location fees to shoot in Manipur, and MSFDS is the single window for processing all film related permissions for the state of Manipur, and any process would be cleared in 10 days.
He also assured the producers of helping them in availing good discounts on their hotel bills depending on the number of crew and days of stay.
The secretary said that the state is coming out with a comprehensive film location compendium to assist producers in deciding their locations in the state.
Notably, the MSFDS secretary earlier pitched for infrastructural investment such as high-end equipment like cameras, post production facilities and indoor shooting studios at the Invest India round table conference in the Film Bazar.
Significantly, this is the first time that Manipur is participating in the forward looking Film Bazar and even has a Manipur pavilion to attract film crews from around the globe to shoot films in Manipur, which is yet to be explored.
The most exhaustive Film Bazar, organised by National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, that began on November 21 concluded on Thursday after four days of networking, film financing and film marketing platform.
On the other hand, in the special Golden Jubilee of Manipuri Cinema package at IFFI, Manipuri film 'Look at the Sky' by the young SRFTII graduate Ashok Veilou from Purul, Senapati district, and the first Manipuri feature film 'Matamgee Manipur', directed by Deb Kumar Bose were screened at Maquinez Palace, Panaji on the second day on Thursday.
Director Ashok Veilou and veteran actor K Tomba were felicitated before screening of the films.