V. S. Kundu (IN)

A career bureaucrat, V. S. Kundu belongs to the 1986 batch of the Indian Administrative Service. His passionate interest in cinema brought him to Films Division of India, a media unit of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Govt. of India, in June, 2012. He has brought many changes in the way Films Division works for the promotion of documentary, short and animation films, with a renewed focus on creativity, transparency and collaboration with the film making community of the country. He is also Director of Mumbai International Film Festival, the premier documentary, short and animation film festival of India. Creation of the FD Zone, a pan- India network of film clubs working for audience development for independent cinema, and setting up the Govt of India project "National Museum of Indian Cinemas" at Mumbai are among his notable contributions.

Films Division of India was set up in 1948 by the Government of newly independent India to act as a communication bridge with the people through cinema. Besides making information and actuality films, FD also promoted the art of cinema, and organised the first few editions of International Film Festival of India from 1952. FD pioneered the growth off documentary film making in India, as well as animation and short films. Most renowned Indian directors, such as Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Shyam Benegal, Adoor Goplakrishnan, Aravindan, Gobind Nihalani, Ezra Mir, Girish Kasravalli, Kumar Shahani, Mani Kaul and Kamal Swaroop, have worked with FD. In 1990, FD started the Mumbai International Film Festival, a biennial of documentary, short and animation films, which has inspired a large number of documentarians and animators in India. A National Museum of Indian Cinemas is being set up in the FD premises at Mumbai. FD continues to be a unique space where independent artists, legacy and public patronage come together for the cause of cinema.