The objectives of the Council's print and electronic media and film
program are to increase understanding of Australia in India, and of India in
Australia, through the print media and radio, television and film.

To encourage working relationships between the Australian and Indian film
and television industries, the Council provided funding for Ms Safina Uberoi
and Ms Penny McDonald to visit India to develop a production strategy for a
range of Australia-India film and television media projects.

This project followed on from a Council-supported Australia-India film
industry promotion conducted by the Australian Film, Television and Radio
School in New Delhi, Mumbai and Pune in late 1996 as part of the Australia
India-New Horizons promotion. Council-supported film industry activities
have played a significant part in the marked increase in collaboration between
the two film industries during the last three years.

Another major Council film initiative is a planned bilateral exchange of
film festivals, to be managed by Cinemedia Victoria and curated by the
Melbourne International Film Festival. The Council funded a visit to India in
January 1999 by Ms Amree Hewitt of Cinemedia to hold preliminary discussions
on the proposed film exchange. On the basis of Ms Hewitt's findings, the
Council agreed to provide funding for the first stage of the proposed
exchange, an Australian film festival that will screen a range of feature and
short films in three or four Indian cities during 1999-2000.

The Council provided funding to the Australian Film Television and Radio
School to enable Associate Professor John Carroll, Lecturer in Communication
at Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, to visit Pune in February and April
1999 to assist with the implementation and monitoring of the new film and
television curriculum at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).
Professor Carroll's analysis and suggested changes have been accepted by the
Academic Council and Governing Council of the FTII, as the basis for the
introduction of new courses for the 2000 academic year.

The Council also provided funding to Ms Laleen Jayamanne of the Department
of Art History and Theory at the University of Sydney towards the costs of
participation by leading Indian film theorist Mr Ashish Rajadhyaksha in a
three-day conference on film theory held in Sydney during November 1998.