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For budding filmmakers

An international film institute takes off this year in Mumbai's Film City

NO QUICK-FIX Kurt Inderbitzin Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.

If you want to make it big in films and network with filmmakers, it will be good to start at a film school. That is the advantage of being at Whistling Woods International in Mumbai. Touted as Asia's biggest institute for film, television and media arts, it is backed by two Bollywood biggies — Subhash Ghai's Mukta Arts and Mumbai's Film City.

"If you want to make a career in films you need to know successful people in the field. Working film professionals will teach here. And imagine, the Head of Department of Acting is Naseeruddin Shah. We are thinking big," says Kurt Inderbitzin, dean of the institute. Kurt has been making films for channels such as HBO, TNT, NBC and many others for the last 20 years and has been teaching at various American universities. He also runs an agency that funds small independent films, back home in Los Angeles.

He instantly dismisses any suggestion that there are too many acting and film schools in Mumbai. "These are just programmes. You can't become a director in two weeks or a producer in a month. Making a film is as complicated as building a skyscraper. I wouldn't trust a person who has just one month of training with five million dollars to do my film!" So Whistling Woods offers two-year courses in almost all disciplines. Preference will be given to students who've completed their degree, but students found to be having genuine interest and creative skills will be picked even if they are fresh out of high school. The first batch of courses will accommodate 127 students.

The best of infrastructure and equipment, 150 computers, 3D graphic consoles await students, says Kurt. And he rattles off names of techie bigwigs they are tying up with including Apple, Avid and more.

International stamp

While Mukta Arts decided to set up the school to meet the shortages they had in their own production units, they wanted to make sure the institute had the "international" stamp. So they brought in Kurt Inderbitzin, who sees himself as a link between the U.S. and Bollywood. Kurt points out that India shouldn't limit itself to being an outsourcing destination for cheap animation and post-production work. "India needs to be creative and export its expertise." He's travelling to various parts of the country to draw students. The two-year courses cost Rs. 11 lakh.

The last day to submit applications is May 25, 2006. Courses begin on July 15, 2006. For details log on to www.whistlingwoods.net

BHUMIKA K.

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