PRESIDENT’S WELCOME MESSAGE
A very warm welcome and warm wishes for a wonderful festive season to all members of the IDPA from us all!!
Though it has been a hectic year, we have been working closely with the I&B ministry and its officials to garner support for the documentary and short film fraternity, The interaction with the government, Ministries and agencies including DoorDarshan has been very positive and fruitful. We will be sharing all the good news with you in the coming weeks.
At this moment I can only say that the Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Smt. Ambika Soni has been very supportive and has assured us of her ministry’s support and a platform for short film and documentary film makers of the country.
A special welcome to our new members. I am happy to inform you that we have two of the industry’s iconic film makers on board, these are Mr. Shaji Karun and Mr. Gautam Ghosh who will be actively involved and help support our future projects.
IDPA is now working as a knowledge partner with Door darshan and the Ministry. We are active support partner with IFFI 2011 and we are hoping for a greater presence and action in Goa this year.
We are working with the government on a multipronged approach to broaden our outreach. Documentaries, short films and public interest spots need to reach the common person especially in rural areas.
It's time to break out of the box, reinvent, upgrade and find engaging ways of storytelling and leverage the documentary genre to another level. We will be inviting experts, creative directors and technicians from overseas to hold special workshops for our members.
This will help us tap the international markets and overseas distributors and create a market for India documentary film makers.
IDPA has an international presence now. We have some known faces like Dev Benegal from NY, Mayuri Panse in LA, Ajmer Sandhu and Annette Anderson-Sweden, Avtar Bhogal and Susan Toldi in UK, Rabia Hawa and Vijay Samnotra in Kenya, Rudolf Lilnger and Susan Eber in Austria and many more, creating bridges and establishing a market for our documentaries. But we need to put our house in order too. There is an urgent need to upgrade and improve our story-telling techniques and pace of our films if we aspire to be players in the international arena .Our films have to be at par with the rest of the world.
Some IDPA international members and co-coordinators are already in touch with institutions in the USA and Europe and exploring the possibilities of joint ventures and regular workshops in India. These workshops will give many of us exposure and an opportunity to learn and keep pace with the latest techniques and evolving styles in the rapidly changing digital world of communications. These special master workshops will be held across the country with the help of IDPA’s regional co coordinators and state universities.
Finally, l would like to thank all the members of IDPA’s EC who have worked relentlessly over the months and gave IDPA the most precious thing we own...TIME! The above achievements are all a result of their undaunting spirit, sincerity, dedication and hard work.
The future is in our hands. We need to unite and collaborate at all levels. This alone will help revive and strengthen the documentary and short film makers' genre in India.
I look forward to your valuable support.
With warm wishes,
Mike Pandey |
