Tourism’s Bollywood connect
The Film Federation of India recently got Indian filmmakers under one umbrella for its third edition of ‘IIFTC Locations Show’ held in Mumbai recently.
The apex trade body of Indian film industry – Film Federation of India (FFI) recently held the third edition of its annual film tourism event, India International Film Tourism Conclave (IIFTC 2015) now rechristened as ‘IIFTC Locations Show’ in Mumbai.
The ‘IIFTC Locations Show 2015’ was also held in Chennai and Hyderabad with participation from various Asian, African, European and South American countries vying to garner a larger slice of the ever-increasing foreign shoots of the Indian film industry.
In Mumbai, the panel discussion also echoed the need to set up a film commission in India to bring in the common policy and simplified procedure for granting permis- sion to shoot in all states across the country.
According to Supran Sen, Secretary General of Film Federation of India, “Our filmmakers are constantly looking for new and exotic destinations to shoot. Our objective behind IIFTC Locations Show is to facilitate a direct interaction between our film industries with the foreign film commissions, tourism boards and line producers, who want to promote their locations and services for the purpose of film shoot.”
‘IIFTC Locations Show 2015’ saw participation from some exotic countries such as Kenya, KwaZulu Natal (South Africa) Fiji, Oman, Jordan, Taiwan, Egypt to name a few and Indian States like Gujarat, Goa, Maharashtra, New Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Telangana.
According to Harshad Bhagwat, Director of IIFTC and Director of Mercury Integrated, “Time and again, feature films have proved to be an excellent vehicle for destination marketing. Audiences are increasingly motivated to travel to places they see in their favourite films and countries around the world are welcoming Indian film makers to shoot in their countries in order to boost tourism. With IIFTC, our aim is to create an official and credible platform for film and tourism industry to meet each other.”
Renowned Bollywood producer and director Rakesh Roshan was the chief guest at the event. Some wellknown personalities from film industry who graced the occasion included Mukesh Bhatt and Tigmanshu Dhulia. They all shared their views on the various aspects and issues related to film tourism.
Since its inception in 2013, within a short span of two years, IIFTC has successfully hosted nine film events in five major film markets of India, establishing itself at India’s premier film tourism event. It is a great platform for film commissions, international and state tourism board and other related services, to meet the representatives of the top production houses, who are on a constant lookout for the best of locations around the world. Each of IIFTC’s events has witnessed an overwhelming support from the film fraternity.
IIFTC Locations Show is organised by Mercury Integrated Marketing Services PL and promoted by Film Federation of India in association with South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce (for Chennai event) and Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce and Telugu Film Producers Council (for Hyderabad event).