Good news for all the film enthusiasts in ‘The City Of Joy’, the Union Budget 2014 has announced that the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) will be receiving the status of an institute of national importance, which had been promised to them few years back.
The institute will be handing out degrees instead of diplomas which will be government-recognized once it’s upgraded. Rs 45 crore that was sanctioned in 2011 for the animation technology centre, will finally start rolling next year.
SRFTI is ready with a new building for an animation technology course as well, “We are starting with the new course in April, next year. It will be a two years Post Graduate course and will focus on animation in the form of storytelling,” said SRFTI Dean Nilotpal Majumdar.
The general emotion on campus was that with the institute in line to get a national importance status, film and animation studies will get the much-needed shot in the arm across the nation apart from Kolkata.
“We believe in developing a good curriculum, ours will be a very intensive course which we plan to implement next year. We will be taking in maximum of 10 students but not more.” added Majumdar.
The size of the Indian media and entertainment sector has increased from about Rs 80,500 crore to around Rs 96,500 crore in the last two years and expected to grow over Rs 2, 24,500 crore by 2017, according to a CII-PwC study.