BHUBANESWAR: The state government will come up with a new Odia film policy to address various problems that the regional film industry has been facing over the years including production and distribution. Principal secretary of the Industries department informed this to various stakeholders of the film industry on Tuesday.
Many actors and filmmakers led by producer Sanlisa Patel have been on an agitation at the PMG since last week demanding the government’s intervention for development of the Odia film industry. Patel had recently faced opposition during screening of her debut film ‘Pratha’ in Jharsuguda.
During a discussion with the agitators, Sharma said the provisions in the existing film policy would be changed to streamline distribution and exhibition of Odia films. There will be provisions to monitor and regulate the distribution system in the new policy.
Although a film policy was created in 2019, no stakeholders could benefit from it due to Covid pandemic. By the time the pandemic eased, the policy expired. The issue of opening of new halls and revamping of the closed ones was also discussed at the meeting. It was also decided that the halls belonging to the state government that had closed down, would be opened, said OFDC chairman Satyabrata Tripathy.