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Documentary festival in Delhi from Feb 3 to 9
Our eFE Bureau
New Delhi : The Films Division, a media unit of the government, is for the first time organising an international festival for documentary, short and animation films in Delhi called Delhi International Film Festival or DIFF 2001. So far, it has been organising this festival in Mumbai every two years. The festival in Delhi will be held from February 3-9. Addressing the media about the forthcoming event, Mr Bankim, chief producer, Films Division, said that the festival is being organised in Delhi despite the fact that there was no budget allocated for it.Putting the total expenditure for the festival at Rs 3.5 lakh, he said that the cost has been reduced largely because of two reasons. First, the Information and Broadcasting minister, Ms Sushma Swaraj, made the Siri Fort Auditorium available for free. And second, the Films Division approached various embassies and High Commissions to get documentary and animation films of their respective countries for free. Mr Bankim said: ``It's been our long-standing demand to organise the documentary film festival in Delhi.'' Since the Maharashtra government has been shelling out Rs 25 lakh for the festival, it didn't want the festival to move out of Mumbai. But inspite of that, the Films Division is organising the festival in Delhi.On the frequency of this festival in Delhi, Mr Bankim said it's difficult to say anything right now. Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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