June 14: The foundation stone of the first film gallery will be laid tomorrow at Jyoti Chitraban, the cradle of Assamese cinema.

The gallery, which will showcase the history of Assamese as well as regional cinema with collected photographs, is being constructed with the help of Rs 20 lakh donated by Guwahati MP Kirip Chaliha.

The public works department (PWD) has already chalked out the blueprint for constructing the film gallery.

An official said all rare photos of Assamese cinema industry, starting from the days of Joymoti, would be preserved at the gallery. He said it would be wrong to say that the gallery would showcase only Assamese cinema.

“Efforts will be made to collect rare photos of other regional films and keep them in the gallery. The gallery will help visitors witness the changes that have taken place in various spheres of the cinemas in the Northeast with the help of photos,” the official said.

The foundation stone-laying ceremony will be attended by Assam culture minister Hemo Prova Saikia, MP Kirip Chaliha and minister of state for planning and development Himanta Biswa Sarma.

The film gallery is expected to attract more visitors to Jyoti Chitraban.

The Jyoti Chitraban (Film Studio) Society is also approaching New Delhi to sanction Rs 14 crore for its third phase of modernisation scheme under the provision of the Assam Accord.

This particular phase includes the setting up of a film city.

Dispur is seriously thinking of the demand raised by artistes from various parts of the Northeast to ask the North Eastern Council (NEC) to run the Jyoti Chitraban Film and Television Institute.

The institute was set up by the Jyoti Chitraban Society at Kahilipara in January 1999 to provide theoretical and practical training in the production of film and television programmes.

The television institute is currently passing through a severe financial crunch for which over a dozen artistes, including Dara Ahmed, Altaf Mazid, Malaya Goswami, Santwana Bordoloi, Indu Kalpa Hazarika, Nipon Goswami and Eli Ahmed recently submitted a memorandum to chief minister Tarun Gogoi demanding that the set-up be upgraded into a regional film and television institute.