About KCA

Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy which came into being about six years ago has envisaged many creative and ambitious programmes to imbibe a culture of cinema and to spearhead academic excellence in this most profuse and effective medium.

In core, the Academy intends to better the skills of film making and to influence the ﬁlm makers to cultivate a habit to produce films that will reach the audience along with socially relevant messages.

The programmes of the academy have been construed with consultation of the doyens and masters of film making and have been found successful in realizing its objectives.

Placed before you in these few pages is the brief introduction of the activities and forth coming projects of the academy which are solely intended to better the off and on screen performance of the silver screen.

ASPIRATIONS AND DREAMS OF KARNATAKA CHALANACHITRA ACADEMY.

THE BEGINNING

The Government of Karnataka constituted the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy under the aegis of the Department of information and Public Relations with a view to promote culture of cinema and for ushering professionalism in the Kannada film industry.

It provides an annual budget or Rs. 1.30 crores to the Academy apart from releasing special allocations for conduct of international Film Festival every year which has almost become the landmark achievement of the Academy.

ASPIRATIONS

Academy intends to imbue a cinematic culture which will pave the way for production of quality cinema and which will find ways to reach the powerful Kannada cinema to the world audience.

It is the prime objective of the Academy to build global podium for Kannada cinema and to expand its vistas by following the agenda set forthwith.

Evolved on the solid foundation laid down by Mr. T. S. Nagabharana and Mrs. Tara Anuradha, the earlier heads of the Academy, both of whom are experts in the art of film making. While Sri Nagabharana was a director of repute, Mrs. Tara Anuradha is a versatile actress, the Academy is now being steered by Mr.S.V. Rajendra Singh Babu, A film director and producer par excellence who has many firsts to his credit in Kannada film field. He has a background rooted in the Kannada Cinema. Inheritor of the legacy of the legendary Mahatma Pictures – which was and is a major film production banner in Kannada and which was founded by his father Sri Shankar Singh along with his actress wife Smt. Pratima Devi, who ruled the Kannada film scene with her acting proves – Rajendra Singh Babu’s clear vision is an asset to the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy.

They say the Cinema is a virtual reflection of contemporary society. Academy wishes to help those students of cinema who would like to analyse the social fabric that binds a cinema and its literacy aspects and the interaction of both these elements in making a good cinema. It would like to provide fellowships to the interested students and would like to publish research papers and thereby documenting the academic progress in the field of cinema.

DREAMS

In the prevalent situation where the film media is being used by anyone or rather being misused by everyone, forming a uniform syllabus to ﬁlm institutes and film education centres is an absolute necessity. It is also felt that they will have to be managed under a uniform code and brought under the purview of academy. This will help in a great way controlling the spurious film organisations that have indulged in Cinema is a virtual reflection of contemporary society. Academy wishes to help those students of cinema who would like to analyse the social fabric that binds a cinema and its literacy aspects and the interaction of both these elements in making a good cinema.

Swindling money from general public and it will also help in raising the standard of film education. Academy strives in this direction.

Academy indents to arrange film appreciation courses and workshops on films, to provide assistance for research, to usher in uniformity of film education institutions, to establish film museum and achieves and well stocked and ultra model library. Film festivals play a dominant role developing the taste of film goers about good cinema and organising film festivals at all levels is necessary to achieve this objective. Academy intends to conduct film festivals of different types – depending upon the place and the ensemble of enthusiasts and befitting to occasions – like short film festival, documentary festival, festival of State, national and international award winning directors, popular films, festival of films selected for panoramas and so on. These festivals will be conducted at four stages i.e., district, state, national and international levels.

IN REALISING THE DREAMS

Academy in its short tenure of 6 years has stepped into many treads some big and small but none is insignificant. In a planned and phased manner the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy is striving hard to realise its dreams and fulfilling its aspirations.

Bangalore International Film Festival

The Bangalore International Film Festival – BIFFES – the official film festival of Karnataka was earlier conducted by a private film society called the Suchitra Film Society. The Society conducted three international film festivals. Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy took over from there and strived hard to get official status for this festival and began organising International Film Festivals on its own. So far 4 BIFFES have been organised by the Academy to both International and national acclaim.

The 7th Bangalore International Film Festival – BlFFES – 2014 was conducted successfully during 5th Dec to 11th Dec 2014. It was a huge success. The festival was conducted under the aegis of Department of Information and Public relations, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore.

An amount of Rs. 2.5 crores have been spent for this purpose. The Academy for the first time had the fortune of having a sponsor for its activities. State Bank of India came forward with a fee of Rs. 5 lakhs for the sponsorship of some of the events in 7^th BIFFES and it is a sure sign that the Academy is catching up in fulfilling its aspirations.

Film Societies

The academy has set up a group of film enthusiasts who will in turn form film societies. These societies called BELLI MANDALAS conduct seminars, dialogues, workshops and conduct film festivals at district level and help in creating awareness among district level film enthusiasts. Academy will provide financial assistance to these societies. 2.30 lakhs have been paid to these societies during last year.

Another initiative of the Academy is the establishment of BELLI SAKSHI, youth groups comprising mainly of college and school going students which intends to create awareness about cinema among youth.

Belli Hejje

A unique programme of the academy in which eminent film personalities are invited and engaged in a one-to-one interactive programme with film lovers. This is a programme wherein the historical strides of the Kannada film industry are heard through the voice of the doyens of the industry and been recorded for future reference. This has turned out to be a most sought after programme of the academy. Documentaries on these doyens of cinema are made and their nostalgic reminiscences have been recorded on video. So far about 50 such programmes have been conducted efforts are on to make this popular programme more attractive.

Financial aid to Cine Institutions

Academy is providing financial assistance to different organisation engaged in activities concerning films. It has extended financial aid to Bangalore Film Society which had organised JALADANI film festival.

Publications

Publication of books related to cinema is another major programme of the Academy. A book titled CHANDANA VANADA CHINNADA HOOGALU is published in Kannada this year which adds to the list of other publications being brought out by the Academy regularly.

Training Camps

Script writing training camps being conducted by the academy has produced amazing results. Many enthusiasts have taken part in these camps and it is to the credit of these camps that one of the trainees had earned a State award for his script. So far 4 training camps have been conducted and the process for the commencement of the next camp is on the way.

First Ever Children’s Film Festival

For the first time the Academy has organised an “lnternational Childrens” Film Festival under the joint auspice of the Department of Information and Public Relations, throughout the State. Arrangements were made to exhibit films in 110 theatres across the State through UFO and CUBE technology.

The festival recorded a stupendous success. An amount of Rs. 1.30 crores were spent for this purpose.

Fruitful Interaction

Mr. Tom Coven the noted cameraman who cinematographed the first ever GOLDEN LOTUS award winning Kannada ﬁlm SAMSKARA was in Bangalore recently and an interaction programme with him and the author of the film and JnanPeetha awardee Dr. U.R.Anantha murthy was organised to a heart worming response of fllm lovers in the city.

Apart from these the Academy has organised many meaning full programmes like NAADA NAMANA paying of obeisance to the legendary singer of yester years Sri Manna Dey, NENAPU a programme to bring back the glorious and nostalgic memories of the doyens of Kannada cinema like director Puttana Kanagal and actors like Balakrishna and Narasimha raju were part of the curricula of the Academy which not only helped the Academy to solidity its stand but also helped the serious cinema lovers of the land to have a better insight into the minds of these geniuses.

Jenugoodu

Kannada filmdom depends mostly on the stories, novels and fables as its base. Realising the Academy intends to start a Story bank, where different stories. with shooting scripts etc., will be kept ready to facilitate eager producers in search of a story line. This is appropriately called JENUGOODU Bee Hive – a hive full of making stories.

Belli Cinema – Belli Mathu

This is yet another new concept being undertaken by KCA. Every Saturday a good cinema will be screened in the prestigious Chamundeshwari Studios to a well nit and organised group of cine viewers. Interaction with the creative people who made the cinema, thus screening will be arranged. This program has been envisaged to build up a good debate on all aspects of cinema.

It is aspired that the program would definitely give ﬁllip to the cine movement that has found its origin in the city.

It is the prime objective or the Academy to build a global podium for Kannada cinema and to expand its vistas by following the agenda set forthwith.