Given the rapidly perishing condition of films and ancillary material in India, it was imperative that the process of Preservation, Conservation, Digitization and Restoration be fast-tracked. It was envisaged that the task be carried out in mission-mode, thus giving birth to the National Film Heritage Mission (NFHM) by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.

The objectives of NFHM are:

• Condition assessment of film reels to ascertain the remaining life of the film,
• 2K/4K picture and sound restoration of landmark films of Indian and recording of new picture and sound inter-negatives of each film,
• Digitization of films,
• Construction of archival and preservation facilities called vaults,
• Trainings and workshops for in-house capacity building, and
• Web-based end to end IT solution.

To achieve these objectives, NFAI seeks to bring in industry perspective and expertise, as the success of the mission depends on an effective synergy with the industry. Accordingly, so far, NFAI has organized stakeholder consultation meetings across 8 locations in India – Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram. Consultations were held with key players of the industry; including producers, production houses, content owners, representatives of various film associations and film historians. These consultation meetings shall act as a guiding force for NFAI, so as to implement the mission as per global standards. A Strategy Roadmap for the NFHM is also under preparation.

Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities:

• A Film Preservation and Restoration Workshop was conducted from 26 February 2016 to 6 March 2016 in association with FIAF, Film Heritage Foundation, George Eastman Museum and L’Immagine Ritrovata, and had 61 students from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The topics included lectures on film curatorship, preservation practices and ethics, film scanning, projection and exhibition, cataloguing and documentation, preservation of posters, documents and photographs, preservation of digital assets, disaster recovery, etc. Practical classes covered film identification, film repair, archival equipment care, film comparison, film projection, digitization of documents and an archive tour.
• NFAI has envisaged a skill development program in Film Archiving.
• NFAI has envisaged a travelling film festival in association with DFF.
• NFAI has launched fellowship scheme for 2nd time after award of 10 fellowships last year.