Maharashtra State Government To Consider Awarding ‘Industry Status’ For Films: Amit Deshmukh

Pune, 9th December 2021: “The Government of Maharashtra is doing a lot of work to promote and strengthen the cinema. In regards to that, the Government of Maharashtra’s Department of Culture is about to announce ‘Industry Status’ for Films. This is going to make the business of film making more affordable, more structured and open to lots of avenues in terms finance, infrastructure, support, viability and bankability,” informed Amit Deshmukh, Minister for Medical Education and Cultural Affairs, Government of Maharashtra. 

He was addressing a gathering during the closing ceremony of the 19th Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) held today at NFAI, Law College Road. The Minister also announced the dates for the 20th PIFF, which is scheduled to be held between March 3 and March 10, 2022.

Dr. Jabbar Patel, Director, PIFF, Samar Nakhate, Creative Director, Prakash Magdum, Director, NFAI, Meghraj Rajebhosale, President of Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal, Trustees of PIFF including Dr. Mohan Agashe, Satish Alekar and Abhijeet Ranadive, Creative Head and Film Selection Committee Member, PIFF were present during the occasion.

“Just like Mumbai, Pune is also an important centre for cinema. Festivals like PIFF create a platform where international film fraternity can come to discuss, understand, learn and enhance their work in their respective fields. However, we need more inputs from the expert committee of PIFF on what more can be done to develop new infrastructure and also to decentralize film production in every part of the state. Though Mumbai is the capital of the film production, now the infrastructure for the same also needs to be created in other parts of the state like Pune,” said Deshmukh.

The closing ceremony announced and presented awards to the films selected in various categories. The Government of Maharashtra’s ‘Prabhat’ Award for the Best International Film Director was given to Gaurav Madan for the film ‘Barah By Barah’ (12×12), while the Government of Maharashtra’s ‘Sant Tukaram’ Award for Best International Marathi Film was given to Poraga Majetay (Happy My Son).

Similarly, in the Marathi category, under the Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal, Jury Special Certificate To the Director was presented to Gajendra Ahire for Godakaath and Vishal Kudale for Tak Tak, while the Best Screenplay Award was presented to Ramesh Dighe for the film ‘FUN’ ERAL’. The Best Cinematographer award was given to Suresh Deshmane for the film Kalokhachya Parambya (Prop Shoots of Darkness), while the award for Best Director was given to Vivek Dubey for FUN’ERAL.

The award for the Best Film Actor was presented to Shashank Shende for the film Poraga Majetay, while the award for Best Actress was offered to Neha Pendse for the film ‘June’.

In the World Category, A special mention was made to the Director, Radu Jude for the film, ‘Uppercase Print’ and the Jury Award was presented to the film ‘Charlatan’ by Agnieszka Holland.

The MIT-SFT Human Spirit Award instituted by MIT- school of film and television of USD 1,000 was offered to the film ‘True Mothers’ by Naomi Kawase, while the Government of Maharashtra ‘Prabhat’ award for the Best International Film was presented to ‘Should the Wind Drop’ by director, Nora Martirosyan and producers, SISTER Productions (France), Aneva Production (Armenia), Kwassa Films (Belgium).

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