The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has decided to promote a short film competition at the Pune International Film Festival. Films depicting tourist destinations of Maharashtra can participate in the competition.

Cash prizes

Prize winning films will be screened during the festival, which is scheduled be held in January 2015.

The films running up to 10 minutes could be documentary or fiction films. The first prize is ₹1 lakh, second prize is ₹50,000 and ₹25,000 is third prize.

Chairman of Pune International Film Festival, Jabbar Patel, addressing the media on Monday, said that the competition is to encourage young film makers to produce quality films on Maharashtra. Since the State has a number of historical forts, temples and cultural products such Paithani sarees and Kolhapuri Chappals, filmmakers will never be short of the subjects, he said.

Helping hand

Patel, who is also an award winning filmmaker, said that film making is a tedious business in Maharashtra, because of the sheer number of permissions required for shooting. Therefore, the MTDC will facilitate the shooting by acting as a single window for all the clearances.

He said that the there would be a three-member jury for selecting the films, of whom one would be from overseas film making fraternity. The competition is open for all and any subject can be depicted in the film, provided it follows the guidelines set up by MTDC.

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