The Indian Delegation met prominent representatives from the International Film Fraternity on the third day of Toronto International Film Festival 2019. The discussions were wide ranging which included participation at the Golden Jubilee Edition of IFFI, possibility of taking forward Government thrust of “Ease of filming in India”, recent initiatives to promote film facilitation in the form of single window clearance and the growth potential of different verticals under the M&E Sector of India.In the discussions, Ms Hannah Fisher, Programming Head of Heartland International Film Festival of USA, suggested that there could be a special focus on India for the Festival commencing from 10th October 2019 under the ‘Foreign Language Category. Ms Fisher said that this would help in enhancing the positioning of Golden Jubilee Edition of IFFI 2019 among the participants and international audience at the Festival.The Indian Delegation met CEO / Co-founder of Newport Beach Film Festival - Mr Gregg Schwenk. The meeting discussed the possibility of enhancing presence of Indian film across North America continent along with exploring business opportunities & collaboration ventures to ensure growth of M&E sector.The discussion with senior representatives from the Global-gate Entertainment – Mr William Pfeiffer & Ms Meg Thompson - focused on the policy framework of films under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India – especially in the context of ease of filming in India. While appreciating the Government of India’s initiatives on ease of shooting, Mr Pfeiffer suggested if the process of incentivisation could be fast-tracked, it would provide value to the structure & framework, which would help boost film-making in India. They also agreed to sensitize participants about IFFI 2019 and suggested to provide names of eminent directors, film-makers, producers and actors who can be invited to IFFI this year.Ms Philippa Mossman, Head of International Screen Attraction, New Zealand Film Commission and representatives from the Israel film fund discussed possibilities of collaborations on convening Festivals; India being the “focus country” in both the festivals and fast-tracking of co-production agreements. The Indian Delegation also met with Mr Thomas Rado, President/ CEO, Gibraltar & Palme and Ms Dilani Rabindran, with whom the prospect of participation in the 50th Edition of IFFI was discussed.
Background
The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is participating at the ‘Toronto International Film Festival’ from 5-15 September 2019 in Toronto, Canada. The Indian Delegation includes Shri Chaitanya Prasad, Additional Director General, Directorate of Film Festivals and Ms. Dhanpreet Kaur, Deputy Secretary (Films), Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.The market potential for Indian content in Toronto is huge because of the strong presence of the Indian diaspora and great interest in Indian Cinema. India-Canada are in a co-production treaty as well and opportunities to work on co-producing films with Canada will be explored by the Delegation during the course of the Festival.