Film and Television of India (FTII) documentary screening that was scheduled to be screened in Main Theatre within the campus on Thursday at 6 PM has been canceled by the administration citing security concerns.
Harishankar Nachimuthu, a final year student’s documentary screening was canceled due to security reasons.
It has been conveyed to the students that the decision has been made after the administration of the Institute had received requests or threats from organization ABVP. The production of the film followed the same process just as any other student project made in FTII. The content of the documentary that caused issues was approved, scrutinized and mentored by the facilities of the institute.
In the meantime, students association of FTII issued a press release claiming, “The above-mentioned organization has a history being detrimental to freedom of expression. We the student community question the concerned on if an art school can function independently when such organizations can dictate the content of our films being made inside the campus.”
They also said, “This directly affects the learning of the students in an imminent film school. The institute administration rather than making it sure that the screening of the film goes as per schedule and ensuring the learning and academic activities in the institute go unhindered have only succumbed to this pressure and canceled the screening. The documentary film is made on the music group “Kabir Kala Manch” is not a banned organization and the public performances documented in the film had happened with police permission.”
It also said that “few of the song performances documented in the film is about Babasaheb Ambedkar’s principles and its vision, it clearly can’t be “Maowadi” as claimed as ABVP. We are living in an environment where any such organization can demand a screening of a student film within an institute to be canceled. We the student’s community of FTII strongly condemns such acts by an organization like ABVP and also the Institute of canceling a film screening within the campus.”