From Argentina to India, film schools face political pressure, privatization threats, and ideological control. Sharad Raj reflects on FTII’s struggles, global cinema education crises, and the urgent need to protect artistic freedom worldwide.

In recent times The Argentine Film School, ENERC (Escuela Nacional de Experimentación y Realización Cinematográphica) has been in news ever since Argentine’s far right President Javier Milei has decided to withdraw state funding to the country’s pioneer film school that was established in 1965. Leading filmmakers of the world like Pedro Almadovar, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Jonathan Trite have come out in the support of the film school, criticizing the move of the President. This is a death blow to Argentine cinema to say the least.

Memories from FTII and A Familiar Pattern

Why does this sound familiar to an FTII (Film & Television Institute of India, Pune) alumnus like me, and I am sure to my contemporaries and other batchmates? The year was 1990, when I was a second-year film direction student at FTII when we, the student body went on one of the longest strikes in FTII history, second only to the 2015 strike 25 years later. It sounds familiar because back in the days the agenda of the Indian Government was to destabilize FTII and make it either a state vassal or privatize it. It was some nefarious agenda for which Mr. K.G.Verma was appointed as the Director of FTII from 1986-1991, it was for the first time that an I.A.S officer was made the director of a film school.

The Ministry’s logic was that filmmakers do not make good administrators so running an institution needs someone with administration capabilities. Not entirely untrue but the administrator needs to understand cinema and its requirement, more than that have a deep understanding of film education. K.G. Verma had neither but was nothing more than government appointed surveillance and sabotage officer. His job profile was to keep an eye on any so-called “subversive” activities of the film institute and if possible, stab a death knell in our film culture. Since Pune is far away from the seat of power and was difficult to control unlike NSD that is in New Delhi, the Government had sent its emissary in the form of Mr. K. G. Verma.

Administration, Surveillance and Absurdities

He feared the students, the result was that his official vehicle would be parked right at the steps of both his residence and his office. He never ever in my 3 and a half years of stay at FTII walked 500 meters from his house to his office. Mr. Verma came up with brazen ideas, almost “Tughlaqi farmans” that often left us stumped! One of the most bizarre things to come from the gentleman was: “Why do you people need to watch films every evening; you should be in the library reading instead!” The man heading FTII saw cinema as a waste of time. we thought we were at FTII to become filmmakers and not in some creative writing course! He had issues with students gathering to watch avant gardré films that according to the ministry and him could spur a revolution.

Then there was the legendary “Wisdom Tree” where students gathered from morning till late night. This was the most uncomfortable place for the establishment. Some years after we left the canteen was removed from its place opposite the wisdom tree to the boys’ hostel compound to segregate boys and girls, since the girls’ hostel was close to the main entrance of FTII and the men’s hostel up in the jungle, and to keep students away from their adda with tea and bun-omelet under the Wisdom Tree. The student body was segregated. 

Issues kept piling up and then came the most ridiculous proposal, “private funding of FTII Diploma Films!” The best way to hegemonize an art school is to privatize it, for the market and the corporates will dictate what gets made into a film and how in which form. What we are seeing today is how privatization has converted cinema art into “content” and profit is the only yardstick. The FTII until today for the last 37 years has been fighting privatization and the credit goes to the students largely. But it cannot be denied that regardless of the regimes except for Jawahar Lal Nehru every other government has tried to tame artists, cinema in particular.

Cinema, Propaganda and Ideological Control

Cinema is a physical art hence it speaks directly to the viewer. Since time immemorial it has been also used as an instrument of propaganda, largely socialist, as in the case of Soviet Russian or fascist propaganda. Therefore, it is the first to be attacked so that it can now propagate what the market and crony capitalism driven fascism believes in. The Soviet film school gave birth to great artists though whether Marxists like Sergei Eisenstein or Andrei Tarkovsky the temporal poet. Same can be said about Lodz Film School in Poland that was setup after the war. But today the students instead of learning from Polish masters like Andrej Wajda and others are more interested in Marvel and DC Universes.

Markets and Cultural Loss

In India it was either entertainment or social realism since Indira Gandhi aligned with the Soviet Union. But FTII produced some path breaking aesthetes like Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Mani Kaul, Kamal Swaroop, John Abraham and Kumar Shahani. They could make their films because cinema was state funded. Markets allow NO freedom whatsoever. With the advent of global capitalism, it is the corporations who took over from the heads of the governments to further their agenda both market and right-wing fundamentalism. For now, the corporations decide governments and who will lead them.

Latin America and The Future of Film Education

The turbulence in Latin America caused by dethroning socialist leaders and governments whether it is Venezuela or Argentina has led to the withdrawal of public funding to its films school. The reason behind Latin American and Asian countries to setup art schools was to develop and promote regional sensibilities that with time would evolve and make a mark both at aesthetic level and story level.

The purpose of setting up FTII or any film school in the so-called developing world was to nurture its art that like other fronts needed state support. That, it soon turned into state propaganda is a different matter but not before making significant contribution. The privatization of the film school in Argentine is a death wound to its cinema and uniquely Argentine sensibilities. No wonder the world is protesting.

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