Film Finance Corporation

Timelines: All, India Categories: 1960s, Country, Decade, Government, India, Institution Film Finance Corporation
Date: 1960
NFDC logo image

India

The National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), formerly the Film Finance Corporation (FFC), is India’s state funding body for films. The 1927 Indian Cinematograph Committee recommended such a state-sponsored agency in its Report of the Indian Cinematograph Committee. As with the U.K.’s National Film Finance Corporation, instituted in 1949, the FFC/NFDC has sought to diversify funding sources for filmmakers, promoting independent, “quality”, or art films. On its website, the NDFC states “The primary goal of the NFDC is to plan, promote and organize an integrated and efficient development of the Indian film industry and foster excellence in cinema.”

Following Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s international success in the 1950s, including winning the “Prix du document humain” at the 9th Cannes Film Festival in 1956, the Indian state sought to facilitate a new Indian cinema an as alternative to commercial productions. This project was pursued by establishing the Film Finance Corporation in 1960, the Film Institute of India in 1961, and the National Film Archives of India in 1964 (Athique 2012). Following Indira Gandhi’s “Emergency” (1975-77), the FFC regulated the importation of foreign films, and in 1980 the NDFC was formed, as an amalgamation of two former agencies, the FFC and the Film Export Corporation (Pendakur 1996). The NDFC supports the production, distribution, and exhibition of feature films, and in 2013 established its label “Cinemas of India” as a means to promote Indian films, in particular at international festivals. Since its inception the FFC/NDFC has produced over 300 films. – Liam Grealy

Website: www.nfdcindia.com

Further reading
– Athique, A. (2012). Indian media: Global approaches. Cambridge: Polity Press.
– Barnouw, E., & Krishnaswamy, S. (1980). Indian film. New York: Oxford University Press.
– Pendakur, M. (1996). India’s national film policy: Shifting currents in the 1990s. In A. Moran (Ed.), Film policy: International, national, and regional perspectives (pp.148-171). London: Routledge.

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