Delhi,
June 14, 2017: She is a 20-year-old whose views about cinema barely extend
beyond beauty, romance and her favorite actors. But she got a good peep into
how cinema voices and shapes opinions on serious issues after attending a film
appreciation course in Delhi in mid-May.
“I
had seen the Charlie Chaplin classics as a child and found them hilarious but
watching Modern Times in the
class opened my eyes to the serious side; the course class about the portrayal
of women in cinema was also very interesting and educative,” said Manmeet K
Bherauchi, a student of journalism at Toronto’s Sheridan College. Organized by
the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India (FTII)--for the first
time outside Pune--the course aims to promote cinematic literacy. The first
four-day course received an “overwhelming response”, according to FTII Director
Bhupendra Kainthola. The Directorate of Film Festivals was a partner in the
course conducted in Delhi’s Siri Fort auditorium, and a side show of
award-winning films kept some students happily engaged in the evening.
Filmmakers,
students and journalists were not the only ones drawn to the course. The 150
participants included engineers, IT professionals, government servants and
university teachers, who came from far off places like Tripura, Gujarat and
Maharashtra. The maximum number came from Delhi and neighboring Punjab,
Haryana, Uttrakhand, U.P. and Rajasthan. Referring to an IT professional who
came all the way from Pune to attend the Delhi course, Kainthola
light-heartedly said, “It is
unpardonable”but shows the response they got. “He really wanted to attend and
the month-long Pune course is too long for a busy professional like him.” Responding
to the demand, another short FA course will be held in Delhi June 23 onwards.
In fact, FTII’s June calendar is dotted with screenplay writing, acting and film
appreciation courses in Delhi. Bherauchi however felt that the four-day course,
packed with seven long hours of study, from the history of cinema to the
treatment of sensitive issues like violence against women, in the Delhi summer
are too exacting.
“The
course should be lighter, more fun than study and the interactive sessions
about a discussion on films we watch should be longer,” she remarked. She also
felt that the course should have separate categories for amateurs and
professionals because “one size does not fit all.” Kainthola said the future
courses would weave in these suggestions. Digital cinematography and
documentary film-making courses along with advanced versions of the short
courses are also on the anvil. FTII’s domain expertise in promoting film
education goes back to the summer of 1967 when the first film appreciation
course was held in Pune. Since 1975, FTII and National Film Archives of India
(NFAI), both under the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry have jointly
conducted month-long residential courses during the summer. As part of its new
outreach initiative SKIFT (Skilling India in Film and Television) “to
democratize film education”, FTII is presently in talks with various state
governments, universities and NGOs to conduct similar courses countrywide,
including Chandigrah. Canon, the digital imaging giant, is SKIFT’s technology
partner, and FTII is stitching up partnerships with other sponsors.
An
acting workshop for children aged seven to 14 years together with the Punjab,
Haryana and Chandigarh Chamber of Commerce (PHDCC) is also scheduled in Delhi
from June 16. Kainthola said, subject experts would be enlisted for each course
for “additional enrichment”. Eminent film personalities Ms Bela Negi and
Shubamoy Sengupta were the teachers for the debut course. The cost of the
different courses—ranging from 2,500 for the four-day course to 25,000 rupees
for the three-week course—some students felt was high. Kainthola said, short
courses, particularly skill-oriented ones, “by their very nature are always
slightly expensive”. Careful budgeting, he added, was done before deciding the
fee.
“Considering
the duration, the intensive rigour and FTII’s brand value, it is value for
money,” he said.
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