Govt to encourage young artists to achieve excellence in cinema: Thakur

PANAJI: Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur on Tuesday said the government is committed towards boosting the creative economy, mentoring outstanding artists and encouraging youngsters to achieve cinematic excellence.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes in the energy of youth and he wants that more opportunities and platforms be given to them, Thakur said.

He was speaking after inaugurating the ‘75 Creative Minds of Tomorrow’ section on the sidelines of Film Bazaar of the ongoing International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2023 in Goa.

This is the third edition of the section in which 75 young filmmakers have been selected from 19 states.

Thakur said, “Nine years back, India was nowhere in the startup domain, but with a new policy, India has emerged as the third largest startup ecosystem in the world with one hundred thousand startups in the country.”

When the world was facing the COVID-19 pandemic, India had 50 unicorns, he said.

“You can well imagine, when big companies were struggling, the Indian youth were making waves,” he said.

Referring to the 75 young filmmakers selected from various states, Thakur said, “It gives me immense joy that all of you are ceasing the opportunity that the ‘75 Creative Minds of Tomorrow’ provides.”

The minister said (earlier) there was a film audience from places like Manipur, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh but not filmmakers. “Now we have filmmakers coming from there,” he added. A big asset for the organisers of this session is their collaboration with big houses like Netflix, Zee, Amazon and others who come on board and provide these young talented creators to try their hand (at filmmaking) and learn more, Thakur said.