Changes between Initial Version and Version 1 of Film Division

Timestamp:

May 28, 2012, 9:33:13 AM (12 years ago)

Author:

Parth

Comment:

--

Film Division

@@ +1 @@
+
+== Films Division ==
+
+Est: 1949. A ‘ mass-media unit’ run by the
+Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, it is
+‘the central film-producing organisation
+responsible for the production and distribution
+of newsreels, documentaries and other films
+required by the Government of India for public
+information, education and for instructional
+and cultural purposes’ (UNESCO report, 1973;
+quoted in Jag Mohan, 1990). Until the post-
+Emergency period which saw, for the first time,
+the independently made documentary (cf.
+Anand Patwardhan), the Films Division had
+the monopoly on documentary cinema in
+India, making upwards of 200 shorts/
+documentaries and weekly newsreels (Indian
+News Review). Each film had over 9000 prints
+and was dubbed into 18 Indian languages and
+exhibited through compulsory block booking
+in every permanent cinema in the country. Its
+early work used imagery today considered
+typical of the iconography of the Nehru era,
+such as N.S. Thapa’s documentary on the
+Bhakra Nangal dam (1958), and connects via
+the war propaganda productions of the Film
+Advisory Board with the British documentary
+tradition pioneered by John Grierson, a link
+further strengthened by film producers Jean
+Bhownagry, James Beveridge (Shell Film Unit)
+and, briefly in the late 60s, film-maker Basil
+Wright working at Films Division on loan from
+UNESCO. Best-known 70s work was by
+Sukhdev. Recent productions include Shyam
+Benegal’s feature-length documentaries Nehru
+and Satyajit Ray (both 1984) and Mani Kaul’s
+Siddheshwari (1989). However the bulk of
+the Films Division’s enormous output is by inhouse
+film-makers.
+
+[[Studio]]