Information & Public Relations organized Workshop on Creating Filming Environment in Sikkim

A film facilitation workshop was organized by the Information & Public Relations (IPR) department on the concluding day of the Global Cinema Festival, here at Manan Kendra.

The workshop was organized in coordination with the Film Federation of India (FFI) and the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) to deliberate on creating an enabling environment for an effective single window ecosystem for films in Sikkim. The objective of the workshop was to sensitize the officials of the State government and stakeholders on the need for making a user-friendly environment for promoting filming in the State, which will help develop the film industry therein.

The workshop aimed to assist the state machinery and government line departments to create a 'Film Friendly Ecosystem' including setting up of Film Cell and to develop the film industry in Sikkim.

The workshop had eminent speakers namely Supran Sen – secretary-general, Film Federation of India, Firdausal Hassan – producer &president, Film Federation of India, Goutam Ghosh – renowned international filmmaker, Arindam Sil – renowned filmmaker, Ravi Kotarakara – secretary, South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce and past president of FFI, Arijit Dutta – film distributor and promoter, Tribeny Rai – independent filmmaker from Sikkim, Mandira Chettri – independent filmmaker from Sikkim, and Raj Sitaula – line producer from Sikkim.

The panel discussions were moderated by Vikramjit Roy, head, Film Facilitation Office, NFDC, and Anita Gupta, principal advisor, Global Cinema Festival.

The topics deliberated in the panel discussion were – The role of the State towards developing a film eco-system and industry; The Perspective from Ground Zero/ requirements from the State; Creating a Film Friendly Eco-system; The FFO Eco-System and the Integration with Sikkim; and marketing Sikkim as a filming destination.

Earlier, Anita Guptabriefed the audience about the objective of the workshop and the role of various agencies in working towards an enabling environment for film making in Sikkim.

The workshop was participated by nodal officers of various government departments, executive members of the Sikkim Film Cooperative Society, and officers of FFI, NFDC and IPR department.

The three-day Global Cinema Festival concluded on a high note with highly acclaimed films from around the world being screened throughout the day. A total of four films from Sikkim were screened today.