'Student film’ release put on hold after Bengal technicians claim they were left out of shoot

Kolkata, Nov 14 (PTI) The release of the Bengali film 'The Academy of Fine Arts', directed by SRFTI student Joyabrata Das with his film school friends, was halted on Friday after objections from the technicians’ body over the alleged non-involvement of professional Tollygunge technicians.

The film, claimed to be a “student project” by Das, was slated for release on November 14 after citywide promotions.

However, last-minute developments led to a halt in the release.

A meeting was convened at the initiative of state minister Aroop Biswas, attended by the director, the producer, Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA) Chairperson Pia Sengupta, and Federation President Swaroop Biswas, to try and resolve the issue. However, some matters remained unresolved.

Made in 2021 by Das and his film school colleagues with significant funding, the film’s director insisted it was strictly a “student film” and therefore there was no mandatory requirement to employ federation members.

Countering this, federation president Biswas questioned why none of the professional technicians was involved in a project made with a substantial budget and intended for commercial release.

"It seems people are mixing up the definitions of 'student film' and 'independent film.' Let me explain that a student film is a project/diploma film made entirely by students of a film school as part of hands-on learning and usually made on small budget, on a small scale, which may be screened at film festivals or in the institute's system." he said.

In contrast, an independent film is funded outside a studio, with the director retaining creative control and releasing it commercially, often on limited screens, Biswas said.

He added, "If a production company is officially involved, how can this still be called a student or diploma film? If the director and producer give clear answers, I will have no further objection." EIMPA president Sengupta said the censor certificate clearly listed producers and hence there were ambiguities in this regard.

"We hope there will be a solution as we are not against the release of a film directed by a student and his film institute friends. We are here to support Bengali cinema as well as stakeholders like technicians. But we need clarity on certain issues," she said. PTI SUS MNB