Film archives are our heritage. They must not be monetised 

News: In recent developments, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has decided to bring all regional and national offices of the National Film Archives of India (NFAI), Films Division (FD), Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI), and Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) under the workings of the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC). 

Brief Introduction about institutes 

The Films Division:  It was established in 1948. It produces, and distributes newsreels and documentary films on historical events and political figures.

– In Post-Independence, films made by the erstwhile colonial agencies of Information Films of India, Indian News Parade, and Army Film and Photographic Unit were handed over to Film Division (FD).  It preserved audio and visual records of India’s history of decolonisation and the process of nation-building. For example, it includes works of Satyajit Ray, MF Husain, Mani Kaul, Pramod Pati, and more recent films by contemporary filmmakers.  

The NFAI: It was established in 1964. It has the mandate to trace, acquire, and preserve the heritage of fiction cinema in India. It preserves several thousand films, books, scripts, posters, and photographs dating back to the 1910s, and it actively promotes film research and scholarship on Indian and South Asian cinema.  

The CFSI: It was established in 1955. It was given the responsibility for producing children’s films.

The DF: It was established in 1976. It organises the National Film Award, for example, Dada Saheb Phalke Award, and the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) etc.  

The NFDC: It is a public sector undertaking. It was established in 1975 and aimed to promote filmmakers outside the mainstream film industries of India. It also contributed to the development of parallel cinema. 

Arguments in favour of the decision 

In the era of digitisation, both NFAI and FD have uploaded rare Indian films, posters and photographs on their YouTube and Instagram accounts to increase public access.

Therefore, non-availability of the physical archives won’t create problem in the future. 

What are the issues involved? 

It implies neglect on the part of Indian government wrt cultural and historical value of films. It means the Govt views film as a medium for information and broadcasting.  

As per NITI AAYOG’s 2018 analysis, NFDC is a loss-making unit. Subsequently, its closure was also proposed in Parliament. Therefore, it is not wise to bring FD, NFAI, CFSI, and DFF under the banner of NFDC. 

The film fraternity of India was not consulted before taking the decision of merger with NFDC. 

The MIB has not given any explanation to why four public-funded bodies are being merged with a loss-making corporation.  

The government has not explained the plan through which the transfer of fragile and inflammable material like celluloid will be carried out.  

The MIB has also dismissed various RTI inquiries and a writ petition by FD employees. It has ignored numerous articles, public debates and open letters written by concerned filmmakers, historians and archivists that seek clarification on the matter.  

The uploading of the archives on social media platforms is going to face problems. They will be owned by big multinationals. In recent years, a number of interviews, reports, and articles have been taken down from social media platforms based on the pressures of governments and interest groups.  

There are other questions like who will crowdfund a public archive from our individual hard drives etc. 

In case of absence of autonomous public institutions, the archives may be tampered, damaged, or destroyed forever.  

What is the way forward?

The government should declare archives as national heritage. Their monetisation should not be allowed. 

India must preserve great works of cinema. It should establish systems of exhibition where the public can freely access them as has been done in the USA, France, UK, etc.  

Source: The post is based on the article “Film archives are our heritage. They must not be monetised” published in the Indian Express on 26th March 2022.