Northeast to have its own Film Institute: Dr. Jitendra Singh The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh has disclosed that the Northeast will soon have a Film Institute of its own. He was addressing a function for felicitating Shri Aribam Syam Sharma, world renowned Grand Prix and National Award winning film maker from Manipur, during the 3-day Northeast Film Festival being held at Siri Fort Auditorium, here today. Dr. Jitendra Singh said, the entire region of Northeast is bestowed with scenic beauty which can match with the most beautiful locations in the world, but unfortunately this vast potential of the region has remained under - utilized by the film industry. He thanked the Union Finance Minister and I&B Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley who was generous enough to include in the Budget the setting up of a Film Institute in Arunachal Pradesh. This will not only help in boosting the film industry in Northeast but would also facilitate film makers from Bollywood, Tollywood and other parts of the country to explore the exclusive locales of the region, he added. Dr. Jitendra Singh has said, Shri Aribam Syam Sharmas work has reflections of some of the greatest Indian film makers like Shri Satyajit Ray, Shri Mrinal Sen and Shri Adoor Gopalakrishnan. He said, just before the award ceremony, he had the opportunity of watching Ishanou, a 1990 production by Shri Aribam which is not only rich in content and direction, but unlike most contemporary films, chooses the medium of visuals and silence to convey the theme instead of being loud or noisy. He suggested that the films made by Shri Aribam and other film makers of the same genre should be dubbed into other Indian languages so that these get wider exposure both for the film maker as well as the quality of cinema being produced in Northeast.
