Confederation of Indian Industry(CII) has commended the signing of the Film Co-Production Agreement between India and the Government of Britain and Northern Ireland. This agreement will bring film, documentary and animation professionals in both countries much more closer than ever before.

CII lauded the efforts undertaken by Union Information and Broadcasting minister Mr P R Dasmunsi and Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, UK Tessa Jowell in signing the agreement, which will further strengthen and benefit film industry of both the countries. This agreement has also become a reality because of the steps initiated by Mr Jaipal Reddy, Minister of Urban development and Culture when he was the I&B minister.

It is a win-win situation and the benefit will flow both ways for showbiz professionals in UK and India. Filmmaking between India and UK will be easier and this agreement with UK will increase world audiences for Indian cinema,'' said Mr Bobby Bedi, Chairman, CII National Entertainment Committee.

Films made under this agreement will qualify as a national film in both the countries. A film will be eligible for co-production status if the pre-production of the film is commenced 18 months before this agreement is entered into force.

This co-production pact will help Indian producers to have access to funding, tax incentives and shoot film in UK and Ireland. Similarly this co-production will help UK filmmakers to shoot at Indian locales and collaborate with Indian partners. The cost of labwork, film processing, special effects, and post production costs are cheaper in India than in UK and this will benefit collaboration for co-production from India and UK.

Industry leaders said the cost competitive post-production & VFX sector of the film industry in India will stand to gain from this agreement.

Producers from UK and India can now get an opportunity to pool their creative, artistic, technical, financial and marketing resources to co-produce films and television programmes.

The potential benefits of the Film Co-Production Agreement were discussed at the recently concluded India-The Big Picture conference and the workshop conducted parallel to the Film Bazaar as part of the International Film Festival at Goa.

Since India and Great Britain share a common history and today a sizeable percentage of the population in that country is Asian, films produced under this agreement would have a ready audience.

This is the second co-production agreement signed by India after Italy. India is in the process of entering into bilateral co-production agreements with other countries like China, Canada and Germany. The Ministry of I&B is also considering to renew the Protocol
on Cinema Agreement signed in 1985 with the Government of France as many of its clauses have become outdated.