Tripura to get its first film and television institute soon: Minister Sushanta Chowdhury

Tripura will soon get its first film and television institute, the state’s Cultural Affairs Minister Sushanta Chowdhury has said. The new institute is likely to come up in collaboration with Kolkata’s Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute.

Chowdhury said officials from the Tripura government have already had talks with representatives of Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) and are expecting a positive response.

The Tripura government has also discussed the plans with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, Government of India, Chowdhury said.

“I have met Anurag Singh Thakur, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, during my recent visit to Delhi. The minister assured us help and also expressed his keenness to visit Tripura,” Chowdhury said at a press conference in Agartala on December 14.

Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb has given his nod to the proposal of setting up a film and television institute in the state and sent a note to the state’s chief secretary in this connection, said Chowdhury.

The chief secretary, Chowdhury said, has already drafted a proposal for the institute and sent it to the state finance department. Chowdhury is hopeful that the finance department will give its approval and the film institute will be launched early next year.

Tripura’s industry and commerce minister, Manoj Kanti Deb, had said earlier that an industrialist had shown his interest in investing in a film city in the state and sought 250 acres of land from the Tripura government for the same.

The Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute in Kolkata, which is likely to function as a mentor institute for the upcoming facility in Tripura, is national centre of excellence that offers post-graduate programmes in cinematic studies. The institute is a member of Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision (CILECT), international Association of Film and Television Schools.