Locally Filmy

The number of participants attending FFSI's film appreciation course in Marathi language has seen a sharp rise after 2010

Back in 2005, when the Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI) launched the film appreciation (FA) course in Marathi language, their primary aim was to widen their horizon and spread film studies out to a maximum number of people. After a modest start with 40 students in the first year, the number of participants attending the FA course remained static till the year 2010, owing to lack of publicity, funds and skilled teachers to conduct the course. However, in the past two years, the list of students, most of them from interiors of Maharashtra and places like Jalgaon, Satara and Sangli, has crossed the figure of 90 . Conducted by Aashay Film Club under the banner of FFSI, this year's course will have a registration for 100 students.

While Satish Jakatdar, Secretary FFSI and head of Aashay Film Club attributes the rise of participants to good publicity, film analyst Anil Jhankar feels that the chapter has been reaching out to people in the interiors of the state by tying up with colleges and universities. "It is an essential medium. When the professors and teachers are involved, the students come in on their own. It is interesting to see that despite coming from rural Maharashtra, most students are curious to learn about world cinema," he says.

Looking at the response the course fetched in its first year, the FFSI approached the Information and Broadcasting Ministry (I&BM) in 2006 for conducting similar courses in different parts of the country in other regional languages. They were given a go-ahead by I&BM in the same year. Apart from Maharashtra, the FFSI is conducting similar courses in places like Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Trivandrum in the regional languages. Unlike the month long FA courses that are conducted by the National film Archives of India (NFAI) and the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), the FFSI FA course is just for eight days. Also, owing to its short duration, instead of elaborate and in-depth analysis, the course briefly covers cinema, world cinema, documentaries, language in movies and film discussions.

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