The draft Meghalaya State Film Policy was submitted to Information and Public Relations Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh today.
The draft was born out of a state summit of stakeholders in March, organised by the Mass Media Department of St Anthony’s College and Mass Communications Department of NEHU.
Filmmakers, film academics, film enthusiasts, film critics and others participated in the discussions. Ideas were shared and suggestions were given and these were compiled into a draft policy, which was then shared with the public for their contributions. These too were incorporated into one document.
The key objectives of having a film policy are to promote new artists, create new jobs and increase investment in film production, a press release stated today. A film policy will help create a suitable environment that not only invites the shooting of films on a large scale in the state but also promotes other activities that are related to various aspects of film production for the purpose of overall development, it added.
Although the film industry in Meghalaya has been developing steadily over the past two decades, Meghalaya lacks a dedicated policy to cover it even as many other states have crafted their own.
Today, film summit coordinator Cherry Kharshiing, co-coordinator Kamaljit Chirom and organising committee members Nathaniel Majaw and Rajani Chhetri submitted the draft policy to Lyngdoh.
“We urged and we hope that through the minister, the Meghalaya government will respond to the people of Meghalaya and future citizens by doing the needful and adopt this policy. This will go a long way in supporting our budding film industry, boost the revenue of the state and create employment for our talented youths,” the release added.
