The Vision and Mission Statement in respect of Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, is enclosed as Annexure-I.

i) Vision and Mission Statement :

'To impart technical education and training in the sphere of films and television'.

Film and Television Institute of India, Pune is a centre of excellence for training in film and television, recognised both inside the country and outside for its contribution to the Indian Cinema and Television.

Located in Pune in the well-equipped film studios of former the Prabhat Film Company, it had a convenient start, with a promising future. Very soon, the students coming out of the Institute with new ideas and strong basis in technique made their impact felt on the Indian Cinema, which resulted in the rise of New Indian Cinema in the seventies. The Diploma holders of the Institute came to be recognised as well trained creative youngsters, and proved their merit in various branches of filmmaking. Today, some of them command the highest respect in their field.

Similarly, the Television Wing which started in 1974, contributed to the growth of television by providing in-service training to the personnel of Doordarshan. This position of the Institute as a premier institution was consolidated by the eighties.

The Institute has an excellent infrastructure with many state of the art facilities. Very few Film and TV Schools in the world have similar set-up and facilities. Because of the quality of education provided by the Institute, it has almost acquired a brand name.

A VISION DOCUMENT FOR THE FTII

A vision for any institution must essentially emanate from its self-definition. Most of the crucial elements of this definition can be located in the objectives, outlined in the Memorandum of Association of the FTII Society, for which the Institute was set up. However, this definition has to also take into account the identity of the Institute as it has evolved or emerged, over the years, in very broad operational terms.

The Institute, in consonance with the objectives which had been spelt out for it, has today emerged as the premier institution for imparting film and television training in the Country and for providing trained manpower for the growing needs of the film and television industry. Along with this recognition, however, has also come recognition of certain chronic problems which have often thrown the Institute in a state of turbulence thereby detracting from the pursuit of the laid down objectives at times.

Be that as it may, given the wealth of experience this institution has and the infrastructure that has gradually evolved over a period of time, it would only be appropriate at this juncture to envision a partial reorientation of the operative objectives of the Institute and arrive at a redefinition of sorts for its functioning parameters.

India has registered a fairly substantive global presence in the world of film making and is also headed towards a globally competitive entertainment industry, especially in the television medium. In tune with the pace and nature of such progress, a national level institution like FTII should also strive to achieve the status of a globally competitive, world class film school which can boast of teaching methodology as well technology of a class at par with the best in the world. A major imperative for reaching this goal would be to stave off, isolation from the international context in terms of curriculum and ideas as also endeavour to constantly benchmark our abilities and activities against globally competitive yardsticks of judgement. Towards the end we would need to ensure regular and substantive international presence, in terms of faculty and exchange students, on the campus. More innovative forums of exchange like film festivals, international workshops and seminars would have to be drawn up in furtherance of these objectives. Lest we lose out on our relevance to the world of Indian filmmaking, efforts would have to be mounted on a regular basis for meaningful exchanges between the Institute and the Industry. It has been on the basis of such exchange in the recent past that some new beginnings have been made in terms of starting new courses in Film Acting and Screenplay Writing. These courses have been brought in to fill the much felt need for providing trained actors and screenwriters for the film industry. Another course in Animation and Computer Graphics is proposed to be started shortly in response to the demands of a growing industry in this direction.

In the context of relevance to the national situation the Institute will have to be cognizant of the phenomenal growth of the television sector in the recent times and factor this growth into designing of its curriculum and courses. To this extent, a separate presentation is being made about proposals and suggestions regarding courses to be run by the television wing.

Taking an overview of the infrastructure available at the Institute the conclusion, at this juncture, remains inescapable that there are areas which need significant attention. While we have made some progress through plan procurements, we envisage substantive gaps remaining unfulfilled at current levels of plan funding. The Cinematography department, Editing department, the television wing, and some of the buildings and class rooms need immediate attention in terms of funding. It is to this end that we are proposing to the Government, with the approval of the Governing Council, for revision in our plan as well as non-plan grants for the current year. This request for revision has also been necessitated by substantive cuts in our original plan and non-plan proposals. These gaps need to be filled immediately because the teaching and training process would otherwise remain severely handicapped for want of necessary support infrastructure.

Another area which needs immediate attention is faculty and staff strength at this Institute. Many faculty positions have remained vacant now for sometime, thereby exerting enormous strain on the existing faculty. The situation needs immediate repair in order to carry on activities of the Institute, especially at the expanded scale that it is envisaged at. An enabling situation has to be created for smooth hiring of faculty and certain other staff positions and flexibility has to be accorded to the process of hiring external faculty in times of need. A review also needs to be done of the service conditions, such as pay scale and promotions, of the existing faculty in order to stave off general demoralization amongst them. Given the need for constantly responding to dynamic situations, a review also needs to be done of the recruitment rules and service bye-laws of the Institute in order to orient them towards meeting the current needs.

As a national institution the Institute cannot possibly withdraw from its role as a provider of publicly funded higher education in film and television medium. Doing so would deprive a vast cross-section of our population of valuable education they cannot otherwise afford economically. However, without detracting from this core social responsibility, the Institute needs to constantly innovate and expand its scope of activities in a manner so as to consolidate a self-reliant and self-sustaining enclave within its larger body. While fulfilling its role as a public institution, this would enable the Institute to maintain its competitive edge and make optimal use of the vastly expanded opportunities available in the market. To this end, it would be imperative to devise our budgeting and accounting system in such a way that all the self-sustaining courses are accounted for separately from the publicly funded courses. This would also give due regard to the necessity for flexibility in devising and running these courses.

It is at this juncture that a review also needs to be done of the pattern of funding for the Institute. While enabling it to bear the burden of establishment costs and some planned development, Government funding modalities also sometimes constrain dynamic responses to emergent situations. It is in recognition of these constraints that the need for a Corpus Fund has been felt and a proposal sent for approval of the Government. Besides a Corpus Fund, the Institute also needs to scout for other alternative sources of funding, from international organizations and corporate bodies, especially if we are to make productive use of the land resources that we have. Even for operationalizing our Building Master Plan for the main campus we would need substantive doses of funding. The need to rebuild certain facilities like the main theatre and class rooms and studios can hardly be overemphasized. These will have to be brought in the line with international standards if we are to attract similar clientele.

While all this goes along we need to keep our gaze focused on the core values that form the bedrock of any vibrant institution; the values of professionalism and adherence to clearly spelt out norms and standards. Lack of exercise of constant vigil on these scores have often resulted in unsavoury situations of slippages on schedules and undesirable delays in the academic sessions.

To sum up one may revert to the question of our image and identity. We are possibly at a juncture where a vision document such as this can be the trigger for an exercise at redefining our objectives as may be required reviewing our activities to bring them in line with current imperatives and refashioning our identity in order to refurbish our image.

OBJECTIVES

The objectives for which the Institute is established are :