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Tag: FFI

  • FFI decides to boycott the IFFI 2012 for being ignored at every stage

    FFI decides to boycott the IFFI 2012 for being ignored at every stage

    New Delhi: The Film Federation of India, the apex body of the film industry, has decided to boycott all activities of the International Film Festival of India in Goa in November to protest it being by-passed and not being called to any Steering and other committee meetings.

    In fact, it was informed about the Industry Coordination Committee meeting as late as August-end by which time some major discussions that are normally taken at this meeting had already been taken by the Directorate of Film Festivals and IFFI Secretariat.

    FFI at its annual general meeting late last week in Mumbai where members from all over India were present unanimously decided that the federation will not participate in any of the activities of IFFI.
     
    FFI has always been an essential component of the Steering Committee and its members actively involved in various other committees and sub-committees such as theatre, technical, hospitality and others. But this has not happened in recent years and ‘FFI can only assume that either the committees have been discontinued or FFI has been kept out of them.‘

    According to FFI President Vinod Lamba, ‘it is now learnt that DFF has already taken all major decisions without calling for any joint meeting, or holding any discussions with the FFI; or even informing FFI.‘

    In fact, in 2011, the time-honoured tradition of the vote of thanks being delivered by the FFI President at the IFFI opening had been done away with at the level of the DFF ‘with no proper and timely information being conveyed formally to the Information & Broadcasting Ministry or FFI.‘

    Lamba added, ‘While this callous misadventure may appear to have been nipped in the bud and status quo restored, the deliberate mishandling of affairs at the inauguration event itself conveyed a greater affront to the persona and position of the FFI President, prompting the Minister (Mrs Ambika Soni) herself to rush on stage to take corrective action.‘

    The IFFI by its very tenets is a festival held jointly by the government and the Indian film industry, and FFI being the apex body of the industry ‘has been playing their part with total sincerity and efficiency.‘

    However, the same cannot be said of the Directorate of Film Festivals which has been persistently neglecting and slighting the FFI, in all matters that were once decided jointly.

    Talking to indiantelevision.com, Lamba added that despite an assurance of remedial action, it seems that the insensitiveness seems to have gathered strength; instead of involving the FFI and through it the industry from the early stages, it seems that the DFF/IFFI Secretariat is bent on sidelining the industry in the major decision making processes, reaching out to it only in times of dire need of correcting embarrassing foul ups. At the same time, he stressed that FFI has never shied away from providing assistance.

    Expressing surprise at the decision, IFFI Director Shankar Mohan told indiantelevision.com that he had been in constant touch with the film industry and it was erroneous to say they had been kept out. There has been constant coordination with the FFI, the Film and Television Producers Guild, and the Confederation of Cine Employees.

    He added that only two committees had been formed this year – the Steering Committee and a Technical Committee.

    He said he had been personally trying for the last month to arrange a meeting of the Industry Coordination Committee, but had failed to get a response.

  • TP Aggarwal, Supran Sen in FIAPF team to WIPO Conference in Beijing

    TP Aggarwal, Supran Sen in FIAPF team to WIPO Conference in Beijing

    NEW DELHI: Film Federation of India (FFI) first vice president TP Aggarwal and its secretary general Supran Sen will be attending the diplomatic conference on the proposed World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Audiovisual Performances Treaty in Beijing this month.

    The two are going as members of the International Federation of Film Producers Association (FIAPF), which serves the interest of producers globally to the meet being held from 20 to 26 June.

    WIPO Audiovisual Performances Treaty comprises 20 Articles, 19 of which were provisionally agreed to in 2000 at a previous diplomatic conference. However, the WIPO member states could not agree on Article 12 dealing with the issue of performers‘ rights.

    The two Indian delegates being Government nominees to this diplomatic conference are expected to play a major role.

    FIAPF president Luis Alberto Scalella and director general Benoit Andre Ginisty are also attending the conference.

    Indian producer Bobby Bedi may also join the delegation.

  • Film industry split on stopping work on 23 February

    Film industry split on stopping work on 23 February

    NEW DELHI: Fissures have started appearing amongst the film fraternity on the issue of striking tomorrow to protest the 10.3 per cent service tax, with the Film Federation of India, the apex body of the film industry, reiterating that the plans remain unchanged and the Film and TV Producers Guild wanting that the strike should be deferred.


    FFI President Vinod K Lamba told indiantelevision that he did not give any credence to statements being made by some filmmakers in Mumbai that the strike had been called off, and also regretted that some TV news channels had been playing up these statements. He also questioned the locus standii of the persons who had been saying that the strike had been called off.


    However, Guild Vice-President Mukesh Bhatt told indiantelevision.com in Mumbai that he wished the best to Lamba, but “let me tell you more than 90 per cent of film folks including the film associations across India and the Multiplex Owners Association are with us and will not take part in the strike tomorrow”.


    Lamba said the FFI was an umbrella body comprising various industry associations including exhibitors, distributors, producers and single screen cinemas, and had taken a unanimous decision to go ahead with the strike. “The result would be there for everyone to see day after tomorrow. My only plea to people not participating in the strike is that they should not sabotage the protest.”


    He said though Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had given a patient hearing in a meeting over the weekend, he had declined to give any assurances. However, Bhatt was categorical that Mukherjee had wanted the film industry to wait till after the Budget before taking any decision.


    A Guild spokesperson also said messages had been received to the effect that some states like Andhra Pradesh would not be joining the strike. Eminent Tamil filmmaker and FFI Committee member L Suresh is also understood to have advised deferment.


    Earlier yesterday after a day-long meeting chaired by Lamba, it had been announced that it was necessary for all film bodies to join the protest to voice their anger to the government.


    Lamba had told a press meet that apart from Mukherjee, the Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni had also met representatives of the industry over the weekend but both had been non-committal.


    Apart from the fact that the industry is already over-burdened by other taxes like the Entertainment Tax, the Show Tax, and the state-imposed taxes, it has to fight the menace of video piracy, he added.


    The FFI has been asking the Government to waive the tax. But Lamba said: “To its utter distress, the Finance Ministry through a circular of 13th December 2011 clarified that the tax was applicable under Finance Act.”


    He said that imposition of the service tax would amount to double taxation since the states imposed their own. In any case, taxation was a state subject and, therefore, the imposition of any tax by the centre was unconstitutional.


    Lamba said the strike had the full support of all organisations including Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association, organisations of distributors, exhibitors and even exporters. There will be a complete shut down of theatres, and shooting studios on that day all over the country.


    Others who attended the meet included South India Film Chamber Secretary Ravi Kottarakara, Arijit Dutta and R S Khemka of the East India Motion Picture Association, A R Raju of the Karnataka Film Chamber, Kalyan of the Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber, Hirachand Dand who is Vice President of the Indian Film Exporters Association, and T P Aggarwal who is Vice President of FFI.


    Lamba said that the service tax is generally levied only on the end user, but this was not possible since the rate of admission tickets in cinemas was already very high because of various taxes.


    Kottarakara, who is also Convener of the Sub-Committee set up for the strike, said it was unfortunate that the film industry was equated by the government to shopping or gambling with taxes imposed on normal industries, whereas this was a creative field.


    It was pointed out that at a time when the number of theatres had come down to under 11,000 for a population of over a billion people, the government should have helped to help build more theatres.


    The negative list concept of service tax and the definition of ‘service’ therein intend to consider ‘right to enter any premises’ as an activity liable to service tax. This endangers the box office collection to be eligible to service tax of 10.3 per cent which is already taxed by high rates of entertainment tax. The new approach of negative list continues to consider film distribution rights as liable to service tax.


    The power to levy taxes on luxuries, including entertainment has been exclusively granted to state governments under entry 62 of the State List of the Constitution. The Empowered Committee of the State Finance Ministers on 9 and 10 January 2012 had suggested that all items mentioned in the State List of the Constitution (including entertainment tax) should be included in the negative list so the Centre cannot impose tax on them. Thus, even state governments agree that service tax should not be made applicable on right to enter any premises.

  • Film industry calls off strike on 23 February

    Film industry calls off strike on 23 February

    MUMBAI: The proposed nationwide strike that was called by the Film Federation of India (FFI) on 23 February has been called off.


    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, filmmaker Mukesh Bhatt said: “The strike has been called off after we had a positive meeting with our Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. We were asked to be patient till the Budget. So be it. We will take a call if the Budget is not satisfactory and take our steps accordingly.”


    Last Sunday, a film delegation met I& B minister Ambika Soni and Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to talk on the service tax issue.


    Earlier, it is understood that there was growing resentment among film producers from across the country, exhibitors, single screens and multiplexes about the strike; they didn‘t want to be part of it.

  • TN cinema halls to down shutters on 23 Feb

    TN cinema halls to down shutters on 23 Feb

    MUMBAI: In a move to protest the Central government’s move to bring the cinema industry under Service Tax ambit, cinema halls in Tamil Nadu have decided not to screen films on 23 February.


    The move is in line with the film industry‘s decision to stage a nationwide protest on that day.


    “Shows in all theatres in Chennai and elsewhere in the state are being cancelled,” Tamil Nadu Cinema Theatre Owners‘ Federation President Abirami Ramanathan said in a statement.


    The Film Federation of India (FFI) has proposed the nationwide shutdown to protest the Centre‘s proposal to levy a service tax of nearly 10.3 per cent on the multi-billion industry, one of the biggest in the world.


    There are approximately 10,000 theatres in India, including 750 multiplexes.

  • Film industry up in arms against Service Tax on Copyright

    Film industry up in arms against Service Tax on Copyright

    NEW DELHI: A core committee comprising senior members of the film industry, along with Members of Parliament, will meet Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to voice their protest against the levy of service tax on copyright.

    The Film Federation of India FFI) , which will give detailed statistics stating the losses of the film industry and the meagre success rate, said that levy of service tax will sound the death knell of the Indian film industry and “we will be forced to shut down the entire Indian film industry”.

    In a resolution passed at a joint meeting of the Film Associations including Multiplex Associations of India at the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce in Chennai convened by the FFI, it was stated that “this additional service tax will be a big burden and cannot be levied on the temporary transfer of copyrights.”

    The Indian film industry is highly volatile and statistics of the past 10 years show that only 7-8 per cent of the films all over India are successful and, thus, yield only the capital invested by the producer/rights holder along with a meagre profit. The rest of the films are big flops due to various reasons. The success rate in the film has been declining year after year.

    The ‘Government seems to be aware’ of only Hindi hits like ‘Bodyguard’ and are carried away by the collections of the film and feel the sector is making huge profits, FFI said. The films which fail to collect or which flop at the box office are not brought to the notice of the Government. Thus, the Service Tax has been imposed ‘with the idea of collecting more taxes from an ailing industry.’

    FFI pointed out that usually service tax levied is collectable from the end user of the services. Unfortunately the producers, distributors and exhibitors cannot pass on the service tax to the end user – the audience and the consumer – since most state governments have put a cap on the rates of admission in theatres.

    “In that case, the service tax has been absorbed only by the over burdened film industry, which is totally unacceptable. We would also like to bring to the attention of the governments that the film industry is already burdened with heavy taxation of entertainment tax by the State Government apart from VAT being levied by several states. This being the case, the film industry is probably the highest taxed industry in the whole of India without getting any subsidy or financial help either from the central government or state governments," FFI averred.

    Also present was K Vaitheeswaran, Advocate and Tax Consultant. FFI vice president Ravi Kottarakara was the convener of the meeting.

    The meeting was attended by office Bearers and senior members from the FFI, South Indian Film Chamber of commerce, Tamil Film Producers’ Council, Tamil Nadu Film Distributors’ Federation, Tamil Nadu Film Exhibitors Association, Kerala Film Chamber of Commerce, Kerala Film Producers Association, Film Distributors Association of Kerala, Kerala Film Exhibitors Association, Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce, Telangana Film Chamber of Commerce, Telugu Film Producers’ Council, Chennai, Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, Kannada Film Producers’ Association, Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India, Eastern India Motion Pictures Association, Kolkata, and Central Circuit Cine Association.

    FFI also has in its fold other important associations like the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association, the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal, the North India Film Association, Multiplex Owners Association of India, Delhi Film Distributors Council, Motion Picture Association, Bihar and Jharkhand Motion Picture Association, Indian Film Exporters Association, Motion Picture Association of America Inc, Kinematograph Renter’s Society Pvt. Ltd., Indian Documentary Producers Association, Chennai City Film Exhibitors Association, Film Makers Combine, Film & Television Producers Guild of South India, Graftii, South Indian Film Exporters Association, Telugu Film Producers Council, Hyderabad, Telugu Film Producers Association, Chennai, Tamil Nadu Film Distributors Council, Tamil Film Chamber of Commerce, The Indian Motion Picture Distributors Association, Western India Film Producers Association and Chamber of Movie & TV Programme Producers, Delhi.