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Mauritius to host Indian film festivals

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI OCT .18. Moving one more step towards making Mauritius the Indian film industry's "gateway to Indian Ocean countries'', the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) has now signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with its Mauritius counterpart, whereby the two governmental agencies will be working on three main areas of co-operation.

One of the most popular shooting haunts of the Indian film industry, the Mauritius Film Development Corporation (MFDC) was one of the international participants at the ongoing International Film Festival of India's (IFFI) Film Bazaar.

As per the newly- signed understanding, Mauritius will now be hosting an array of Indian film festivals, including thematic ones that will focus at showcasing some of the best works depicting social issues and concerns. While the coming month of November will see a festival of Satyajit Ray's films, February will see the island showcasing some of the best works of Goutam Ghose.

The MoU has also taken up the matter of releasing regional Indian films commercially in Mauritius, so that the people don't have to wait for a festival to view Indian films. . "Since Mauritius has a sizable audience for films made in not just Hindi but also Tamil, Marathi and Telugu, we want films of these languages also to be screened. Mauritius will, in fact, also help us connect to the audience in countries like Seychelles and South Africa, where Indian films are much liked,'' pointed out an NFDC official today.

The third area of co-operation is aimed at promoting young talent in the small island. This would mean that every time an Indian film unit goes to Mauritius to shoot a film, a group of technicians and wannabe film makers from the island will be given on the job training by the Indian crew.

According to the visiting delegation here, attempts are also on to ensure some kind of understanding with the premier film institutes of India, which have a foreign quota to help promote cinema in Mauritius in a better way.

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