The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has decided to promote a short film competition at the Pune International Film Festival which begins from January 8 next year. Films depicting the tourist destinations of Maharashtra can participate in the competition. Prize winning films would be screened during the festival.
Prizes would be given to those films, which manage to capture scenic sites, historical places and cultural heritage of Maharashtra. The films running up to 10 minutes could be documentary or fiction films. The first prize is Rs 1 lakh, second prize is Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 is third prize.
Chairman of Pune International Film Festival, Jabbar Patel, addressing the media on Monday, said that the competition is to encourage young film makers to produce quality films on Maharashtra. Since Maharashtra has a number of historical forts, temples and cultural products such Paithani sarees and Kolhapuri chappals, filmmakers will never be short of the subjects, he said.
Patel, who is also an award winning filmmaker, said that film making is a tedious business in Maharashtra, because of the sheer number of permissions required for shooting. Therefore, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation will facilitate the shooting by acting as a single window for all the clearances.
He said that the there would be a three-member jury for selecting the films, of whom one would be from overseas film-making fraternity. The competition is open for all and any subject can be depicted in the film, provided it follows the guidelines set up by MTDC.