Dear Friends
The present students of the FTII must be congratulated and recognised by all of us for having saved the Institute from a major disaster, which was almost a done deed. The students' determination to resist, with the participation of the staff association and some members of the faculty, and support of alumni and other interested people, finally forced the authorities to pay attention and the Detailed Project Proposal (DPR) of Hewitt Associates had to be dropped.
Here are two newspaper links of interest:
a) The report of Thursday's events in the Indian Express Pune edition of Fri 19 Nov 2010.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ftii-drops-upgrade-report-own-team-to-work-on-new-plan/713142/1
It marks the scrapping of the Hewitt Detailed Project Proposal and points to the government inviting a team of people called the Group of Experts (GOE) to write a new plan for the revitalisation of the Institute.
b) A Report in the Indian Express of today, 20 Nov, confirming the setting up of the National Centre for Excellence for Animation, Gaming and VFX (NCoE) on Institute land at the back of the hill .
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/animation-centre-likely-to-come-up-on-ftii-extension-land/713755/
It says that "a presentation before the minister that should happen any day". A private investor will get excellent land in Pune at no cost because of a Private-Public Partnership. Such privatising of public resources is unacceptable. The land belongs to the FTII and by extension, the Indian public, whose taxes have gone to set up and run the Institute. Today the Institute is overcrowded and run-down, it needs that land for its future expansion.
Plus, if such a privileged institute is set up in the midst of the prevailing near break-down situation at FTII, it will only lead to more conflict. Can't someone influence government to set it up elsewhere? It makes sense to do it in Bangalore or Hyderabad where the industry with which the NCOE has to interact already exists.
The issues are still hot, and as alumni we must keep an eye on further developments.
Chandita Mukherjee
--
http://ftiistudentsbody.blogspot.com
Letter by Shammi Nanda to Student's Body in Support
ReplyDeletedear all,
this is in context with the discussion regarding the recent happenings.
the zapatista's in mexico is a radical group or indigenous people who have taken control over their lives. there was once a meet where people had come from all over the world. The zapatistas had a slogan which was some thing like this "if you have come to us because you think that your problem is same as ours then you are welcome but if you have come to help us you can leave".
i see what is happening at ftii in the same light and it should be made clear that what the students are fighting is not for their own benefit but for the future generations...its amazing that ftii has this culture.
as film makers i too feel the issue that ftii is facing is not very different from what we are facing outside. i thin they are not just resisting the planned changes in ftii but the larger vision which is controlling our lives more and more day by day...
recently kundan shah was commenting on the accusation that not much cinema has come out of ftii graduates since 80's. he said that the times are different not just for those who have passed out recently but people like him also have not been able to do much since 80's with the shrinking support from the government....
so i dont see the students who are leaders in the present movement who are also fighting for those who have been out of ftii when they are resisting the hewitt report which wants to destroy the institute....
best
shammi
saw the film about protest at anant murthy...good to see that students are coming out to make their voice heard and that too not about their future but about the future of the institute. to uphold the vision that ftii stood for...but at the same time wonder if our protests can be more creative than what one has seen in all campuses. can we think of a new language for voicing our selves. can our protests be more creative. next time some thing happens we can offer small video production course to the people of pune. we have enough handicams and laptops to do. to really democratise education to make it 'open source'. this is just one idea i am sure people can come up with more imaginative ways....
ReplyDeleteshammi