Thomson Foundation Launches "Pune Film Treasures Festival" within the Film Heritage Educational Program

New Delhi, Delhi, India

The Thomson Foundation for Film & Television Heritage launched the first ever "Pune Film Treasures Festival" a four day cinema event in Pune taking place at the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) and with prestigious partners such as Cinemathèque Française (France), Film & Television Institute of India (FTII) and George Eastman House (USA). The film festival continuing till March 20, 2008 will screen timeless wonders based on the theme 'Cinema of modernity and Modernity of cinema'.

In the continuity to the courses during the day at FTII, the Pune Film Treasures Festival, open to public, will have evening screenings on each of the festival days at the Main Theatre, NFAI, Law College Road, Pune.

These movies will be introduced each night by different filmmakers explaining their choice to the audience. The festival will be attended by world-class film archivist and filmmakers, Sudhir Mishra, Olivier Assayas, Nishikant Kamat, Jean-François Rauger…

The initiative to launch the "Pune Film Treasures Festival" is in continuation with Thomson Foundation's commitment to promote film heritage in India and globally and will focus on movie programming and archiving training.

It has been designed as a complement to the Film Heritage Educational Program within FTII, specifically designed for the future generation of filmmakers trained at the national film school in Pune. This intensive 4-days course had been launched in April 2007 as a premiere within a film school. The second session will open on March 17 with lectures and masterclasses, again mixing both filmmakers and various film experts forms prestigious archive institutions.

"Heritage should always be shared especially with the young generation and this is a novel attempt to make youngster aware of the heritage," said, Mr Pankaj Rag, Director, FTII, Pune.

Speaking on the occasion, Severine Wemaere, Managing Director of Thomson Foundation, "The Pune Film Treasures is in continuation with Thomson Foundation's initiative to reach out, educate audience on the importance of film heritage safeguard. Our efforts to sensitize the public to the richness of archives have received a boost with the support from eminent filmmakers like Shyam Benegal, Sudhir Mishra, Olivier Assayas, Nishikant Kamat, Anurag Kashyap, Adoor Gopanakrishnan, Ketan Mehta."

"The foundation is also extremely proud of the endless support it receives from its partners, National Film Archive of India, Film & Television Institute of India, Cinemathèque Française and George Eastman House. Last year, we have created and launched the Goa Film Treasures section in IFFI Goa festival which received very encouraging response from all quarters", she added.

Classics such as Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (F W Murnau, Germany), La Règle du Jeu (Jean Renoir, France), Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, USA) or Shiraz ( Franz Osten, India) will be screened at this ongoing festival.

About Thomson Foundation for Film & Television Heritage:

Created in 2006, the Thomson Foundation is a non-profit entity, acting worldwide in the field of preservation and promotion of film and TV heritage, which reflects the history and culture of a country. Working in cooperation with local and international partners, the Thomson Foundation identifies and supports urgent programs for the safeguard of moving images. By identifying the appropriate resources required for each project, the Thomson Foundation helps set up multi-disciplinary teams. They include experts from its founder Thomson and experts from leading film and TV archives, film preservation schools, cinema schools. Transmission and education plays a key role in each program. In all Foundation programs, films and audiovisual materials are preserved in aim to be shared and shown to the largest audience.

About the Film and Television Film Institute of India (FTII):

Established in the year 1960 on the erstwhile Prabhat studio premises at Pune and thereby inheriting a rich legacy in quality Cinema , the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) has truly lived up to its avowed objective in the field of imparting training in film making and television programme production. Today the FTII is considered as a Center of Excellence not only in India but also in Asia and Europe. The FTII is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India. The FTII is a member of CILECT an international association of film schools.

About the National Film Archive of India (NFAI):

The mission of the National Film Archive of India is to safeguard the heritage of Indian Cinema for posterity and act as a centre for dissemination of a healthy film culture in the country. Promotion of film scholarship and research on various aspects of cinema also form part of its Charter. Familiarizing foreign audiences with Indian Cinema and to make it more visible across the globe is another declared objective of the Archive.

About La Cinemathèque française, Paris, France:

After a long residency at the Palais de Chaillot, the Cinemathèque française has since September 2005 made its home within the modern building designed by the architect Frank Gehry in Paris' 12th district. Enjoying fresh support, the Cinemathèque is now in a position to exhibit, host, restore, and display its collections in three exhibition spaces, programme films on three screens, receive students and researchers in its library and archive centre, and organise educational events for young audiences. Rich with experience, the Cinemathèque française continues to fulfil its original mission: preserving and restoring films and archives within its collections, programming major classics.

About George Eastman House (GEH), Motion Picture Department and the L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation, Rochester, France:

The George Eastman House Museum, of Rochester, New York, is an international leader in film preservation and, through its L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation, in the education of professional film archivists and curators. Selznick School alumni serve in leadership positions in film and media archives around the world.

To view the screening schedule, please click in the link mentioned below:

Screening Schedule

Source: Thomson (Business Wire India)

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