In the next five years, India is expected to become the third largest in the global media and entertainment sector from the fifth-largest currently, according to Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur.
Speaking at the 54th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Panaji, the minister also announced that the festival has chosen to present the best web series OTT award for the first time, recognising the revolutionary role that original content creators have played in the nation.
According to the minister, the spirit of the previous year’s edition, in which some firsts were initiated, is carried over into this one with a few more firsts. In addition, the Union Minister stated that OTT (over-the-top media service) deserves this recognition for providing entertainment to people during the COVID-19 pandemic, when “everything was closed”.
“The OTT (sector) is expanding at a pace of 28% currently. We chose to establish this award for that reason,” he stated.
Anurag Thakur said that this year’s edition also marks a first in expanding the scope of the “Film Bazaar,” a festival side event, by adding a documentary section to encourage the telling of non-fiction stories and a carefully selected VFX and tech pavilion to highlight innovation in the film industry. As per the minister, for the first time and from this time on, IFFI will bestow the best web series OTT award.
“We also present Cine Mela, an extravagant celebration of our culture and diversity, for the time being. A section on restored vintage feature films has also been added to the IFFI,” he stated.
“We are going to show you seven world premieres of meticulously restored masterpieces of the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and National Film Archive of India (NFAI) under the National Film Heritage Mission,” stated Anurag Thakur. He stated that 5,000 films and documentaries would be digitised and restored as part of this project.
