The Hindu : dated March 22, 1953: Films and Government

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Saturday, Mar 22, 2003

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dated March 22, 1953: Films and Government

From the Editorials: "A new development is the purchase of seven films from private producers as against 32 made by the Films Division. Private film producers have long clamoured against Government monopoly, and this should open the way for greater variety in the short documentaries compulsorily shown in cinemas. The tendency to be avoided in documentaries and educational shorts is dullness. The Films Division has maintained a fairly good standard though the level of commentary is not very high. Dullness is to be found more frequently in the News Reviews which too often copy the British practice of showing high dignitaries opening flower shows or art exhibitions, leaving out the flowers and pictures and concentrating on the VIPs. In the realm of films, there has also been exploration of foreign fields; short films have been sent as far afield as Siam, Indonesia, Indo-China, New Zealand etc. and arrangements made to distribute them commercially in the United States, Canada and South America. To encourage wider exhibition, rentals for non-commercial showing have been reduced and Films Division is to prepare sets of films for programmes of 90 minutes for hire at concessional rates. During the year the outstanding event was the International Film Festival. It made a great impression in the country, and brought new ideas to local producers while delighting the ordinary film-goer who has little chance of seeing really first-rate films from other countries. There was evidence in 1952-53 of a tightening of the film censorship, 21 films were actually refused certificate while 2,434 obtained them. Yet the total cut was nearly 47,000 feet. Of the certified films 2,411 were given Universal certificate and 23 were marked Adults Only.''

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