The MEDIAIDS project, under a partnership of Internews Europe, Formedia and the Public Service Broadcasting Trust, conducted a one-day workshop for eight short-listed Indian documentary film-makers. They were selected from the several film-makers who had responded to the call for proposals for commissioning of three-to-four 28 mts. documentaries on the theme of HIV / AIDS. This is part of the several activities being conducted under the two-year project co-funded by the European Union Economic Cross-Cultural Programme and DFID-PMO with supporting funds from PSBT for the documentaries.
Indian films on the theme of HIV / AIDS have largely been restricted to the NGO sector. As Mr. Rajiv Mehrotra, Managing Trustee, PSBT emphasised, the film-makers should endeavour to be innovative and take creative risks while depicting an important social issue, even if NGOs are their basic resource point. Under the MEDIAIDS project, film-makers are being urged to make documentaries that have the potential for general viewing on television in India and abroad.
