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The Film Co Production Agreement between Government
of India and the Government of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland has been signed here today by the Minister of
Information and Broadcasting, Shri P.R. Dasmunsi and
Rt. Hon Tessa Jowell, MP, Secretary of State for Culture,
Media & Sport, UK. The Agreement with United Kingdom
was finalized after several rounds of discussions and
is expected to pave the way for many fruitful associations
between producers of India and U.K.
Over the past few years, the Ministry of Information
and Broadcasting has received several proposals from
various countries for entering into Co production Agreements
on a Government-to-Government basis. In May 2005, Minister
for Information and Broadcasting and Culture signed,
on behalf of the Government of India, an Audiovisual
Co production Agreement between the Governments of India
and Italy. The Ministry of I&B also have an existing
Protocol on Cinema with the Government of France, which
is of 1985 vintage, and many of its clauses have become
outdated and the Government is separately considering
the possibility of renewing the Agreement.
Intergovernmental co-production agreements are usually
umbrella agreements, under which private, quasi-government
or government agencies may enter into contracts to produce
films together. Such films are treated as national films
in both countries.
The following benefits have been identified as arising
from such agreements on a Government-to-Government basis
to the Indian film industry.
(i) Producers from both countries get an opportunity
to pool their creative, artistic, technical, financial
and marketing resources to co-produce films and television
programmes.
(ii) Risks get shared and there is a wider natural
audience base.
(iii) The chances of Indian locales being utilized
for shooting raises the visibility of India as a preferred
shooting destination. With the liberalization of shooting
guidelines for foreigners shooting films in India,
there has been a marked increase in films being shot
in India.
(iv) The cost competitive postproduction sector of
the film industry will stand to gain from the Agreements.
(v) Since India and Great Britain share a common history
and today a sizeable percentage of the population
in that country is Asian, films produced under this
Agreement would have a ready audience.
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