BENGALURU: For the first time in the history of Bangalore University, a film school is set to be established. The ‘School of Cinema’ will soon be set up under the newly established Bengaluru Central University and will have the who’s who of the Kannada film industry as guest faculty.
The aim of of the film school is to create to train students to become world class filmmakers and to establish a useful film research center according to S Japhet, vice-chancellor, Bangalore Central University.
A meeting was held with senior directors of the Kannada film fraternity such as Girish Kasaravalli, Rajendra Singh Babu, H M Rajendra and theater artist K Y Narayan Swamy to decide the modalities of the course. It is set to begin from the next academic year.“The film course will be one of the flagship programs of the university. We want to give training that is the best so that our students can match with the best from anywhere,” says Japhet.
Initially university wants to introduce courses in direction, editing, script writing and photography. “We lack professionals in cinema today. We want to fill up that gap and if a center that caters to this demand is being established we more than welcome the move,” says Rajendra Singh Babu, President of Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy.
There is huge demand for professionals in various avenues of the media industry such as radio, television and new media. “Our university is looking to cater to these demands,” says Japhet.
An expert committee has been to set up to come up with guidelines and syllabus for the department. The programme will be announced in the upcoming Bangalore International Film Festival that will begin in February.
The university also keen on setting up a film research center. The center will be set up to study films and its impact on society. “There is huge change in the cinema industry. The corporate sectors are taking over this space tremendously. A course like this will help the art of filmmaking stay on the right path and make quality movies for upcoming generations,” says Japhet.