In India, Cinema is not only a source of entertainment but is also a mass media tool that influences the minds of many. Because of the country’s poor economic and social growth rate, films are understood better by the Indian audience and have a much greater impact than literature or state policies.
Recognising the same, the 18th Mumbai International Film Festival brought together corporate houses and documentary filmmakers to discuss on ‘Leveraging Documentary Films to Strengthen Brands and Promote CSR Initiatives’. In other words, through the Festival, the financial changemakers could come together with the creative changemakers of India to generate a greater positive impact.
CSR and Film Making
The main aim of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by a corporate house enjoying profit is to benefit the diverse society of India in one way or another. This benefit can be of various forms like an initiative that strengthens national integrity, protects human rights, ensures food security, gender equality or steps towards environmental sustainability. One way of doing impactful CSR can be by investing in good documentary films that spread a strong social message.
Documentary and feature films are broadcasted on television, discussed in newspapers and radio and are widely screened on various internet streaming websites. This means that a film has a much wider reach in comparison to any other physical initiatives like setting up a health camp. That is why CSR investments in creating beautiful films that cater to the emotions and morals of the common people of India are important.
Not only for corporate houses, investment in documentaries and films is also important for freelance artists and filmmakers, who otherwise suffer from funding crunch. Making an exceptional film for filmmakers is as difficult as acquiring the money to do so. But with time, production houses are pushing their hands out of the independent filmmaking business, and
want to invest into more commercial projects. It is here where the CSR initiatives can join hands with freelance artists who want to create something more than just entertainment. This will also help in a revival of the indie film industry which suffered a major setback post covid.
The 18th Edition of MIFF
At the 18th Mumbai International Film Festival that was held at NFDC Mumbai on June 22, seven documentaries were presented to corporate leaders in a first-of-its-kind initiative. These documentaries were based on socially significant subjects of poverty eradication, women empowerment, environmental sustainability, etc. The documentary filmmakers had an eye on CSR funding for the production and distribution of their films all across India.
Speaking about the importance of document filmmaking, the director of the Film Festival and MD of NFDC, Prithul Kumar said that films have the power to become a part of history as they touch upon issues that concern present-day societies. He further said that corporations can benefit by sponsoring documentaries on social issues and promoting that brand image. This idea was taken well by corporate leaders.
Krishna Vilasini, the director of corporate affairs and engagement of L’Oreal India, was seen advising Indian documentary filmmakers to find out more about social issues endorsed by the brand and accordingly pitch their subjects to the prospective companies. Since documentaries are a good means of bringing voices that are unspoken and unheard of, a brand that is actually working on a given social issue can contribute more than just funding the film production.
The 18th session of MIFF was moderated by Chandrasekhar Mantha from Deloitte. At the start of the event, Mantha enlightens the audience about the huge market documentary films enjoy today. It is also after two Indian documentaries, ‘The Elephant Whisperer’ and ‘All That Breathes’ reached international platforms like the Oscars, that this market has started to grow in India and has scope. On average, around 11 billion documentaries are made, and this number is soon to increase to 16 billion.
