87 filmmakers write to Jaitley, condemn stifling film students
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 28 November 2015 19:29 IST
Almost 87 filmmakers of India have written a joint letter to Information and Broadcasting ministers and senior officials, condemning the harsh measures taken to stifle student participation in IFFI.
The letters are sent to Information of Broadcasting minister Arun Jaitley, state minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, Secretary Sunil Arora and Director of Film Festivals C Senthil Rajan.
The filmmakers have also demanded that the students of Film and Television Institute of India be allowed to attend the 46th edition of IFFI and charges leveled against two protesting ex-students be dropped.
While expressing solidarity with the protesting students, the filmmakers have strongly objected to the arrests, detention and not allowing FTII student delegates to enter the IFFI venue.
“From ex-students being arrested for exercising their democratic right to protest and false charges being framed against them, to being denied entry into the festival despite valid accreditation simply because they happen to be from FTII, to a student being put in preventive detention – these are measures that have nothing to do with the objectives that IFFI was set up for”, states the letter.
The filmmakers have also said that the organisers have scrapped the whole section of students’ films due to 139-day old strike by FTII students, under the guise of repeat screenings of other films.
“The scrapping of the student package affects film students across the country and not just FTII, and is an act that is against the interests of the entire student community”, states the letter further.
CLICK BELOW TO READ THE ENTIRE LETTER & SIGNATORIES
Solidarity Letter_FTII
