Entries in the documentary category should be submitted as film prints, says I&B ministry
MUMBAI: Anand Patwardhan is onto another battle.
The filmmaker has filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) asking it to revise the rules of entry for documentary films to this year’s 53rd National Film Awards. In a recently-published advertisement, MIB insisted that entries in the documentary category be submitted as film prints.
“This is a totally retrograde step,” says Patwardhan. “About 95 per cent documentary filmmakers today are making their films in digital or video format.”
The writ petition, filed in the Bombay High Court, also wants the government to do away with the censor certificate clause. According to rules, it’s mandatory for documentary films to get a censor certificate if they want to be considered for a national award, even though they may never actually have a public screening.
Patwardhan is joined in the lawsuit by two other filmmakers—Simatini Dhuru and Gaurav Jani. The latter’s motorcycle travelogue Riding Solo to the Top of the World won the Best Documentary and Critics’ Awards at this year’s Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF), but cannot try for a National Award because its been shot with a digital Mini DV camera.
In a letter to I&B Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, the Indian Documentary Producers’ Association (IDPA) has also taken up the matter. “…barring a film from competing on the grounds of a technical requirement, amounting to capacity to spend on its cost, is highly discriminatory…”
Filmmaker Dhuru says, “This means that only government-run organisations like Films Division and some funds-flush documentary makers, who still use celluloid, will make the cut.”
In fact, the IDPA calculates that cost of converting just one hour of digital to celluloid would be approximately Rs25 lakh—prohibitive for most young documentary filmmakers who could make five films on that budget. More and more documentary filmmakers have gone digital because it’s cheaper, eliminates the need for a big film unit, is conducive to all kinds of light and travel conditions, and allows for easy and creative post-production.
Chandita Mukherjee, vice-president of the IFPA, adds, “In 2004, after the AK Bir committee recommended that digital format films be allowed for the national awards, the MIB instituted that for two years. This year, without any reason or consultation they have reverted to the earlier regulations.”
In private Dasmunsi is believed to have told some filmmakers that he will rethink the matter, but they don’t see anything changing before the May 19 deadline for submissions. Despite repeated attempts Dasmunsi was not available for comment.
Documakers say:
The I&B move bars younger filmmakers who work in the digital format from trying for a national award
It will cost almost Rs25 lakh to convert just one of digital film into celluloid, which would be unaffordable by younger documentary makers
Younger docu makers hardly care about national awards, preferring to be feted at international fests. I&B restriction will further push them away
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