User:Lakshmikanta Manna/Chitrabani

Chitrabani is the oldest media training institute in Eastern India. It was established on 5th October 1970 as an extension service of St. Xavier’s College  Kolkata. Fr. Gaston Roberge (1935-2005), a Canadian Jesuit priest, film theorist and the pioneer of the film appreciation movement in India established the institute with full support of  Indian film maestro  Satyajit Ray. He steered this centre as its founder-director for the first 25 years. Satyajit Ray was the Advisor of Chitrabani since inception and the founder-member of Chitrabani Society. Over 20 books on communication by Gaston Roberge, have formulated the philosophy and pedagogy of Chitrabani. Chitrabani is recognized by the Government of West Bengal as a voluntary educational institution in the field of social communication.It was registered as a Society in 1979.

Background
After independence, in 1947 Satyajit Ray, Chidananda Dasgupta , RP Gupta, Bansi Chandragupta, Harisadhan Dasgupta and others founded Calcutta Film Society and started the film society movement in India. As a result local viewers have got access to world cinema. But at that time there was no opportunity for film studies for aspiring serious students of the media. It is Chitrabani that set off ideas and projects that influenced the study of mass media in Eastern India long before the discipline became fashionable. Only a few had the access to American Centre or British Council to get in touch with western culture. French Canadian Jesuit priest Fr. Gaston Roberge, who made it possible on 5 th October 1970 by pioneering the course  in Chitrabani as a extension service for St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta with full support of Satyajit Ray, the greatest filmmakers of all time in India and Rita Ray, who was a long time member of Central Board of Film Certification. The vision of Fr. Gaston Roberge for an educational centre where serious students of the media can find support and exchange ideas, a social centre where persons committed to development can work together, came to be a true. He further desired - Let the communication be humane, let the mass media be used for the welfare of the people.Therefore his constant of thought around Chitrabani was - " A Human Touch in Communication". The Chitrabani Society Chitrabani pioneered the film studies hiring a group of film personnel’s like Dipak Mazumder, Utpal Kumar Bose, Shamik Bandyopadhyay Biren Dassharma and others. Through a long efforts of Chitrabani the film study course got affiliated by the university of Calcutta.

Contributions
Chitrabani introduced serious study of Cinema in Kolkata, long before the Department of film Studies at Jadavpur University and Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) and has had many milestones.

Photography, film video and theater till 1994. 1991 - Chitrabani Photographic Association was formed.The AVRC of Chitrabani upgraded to EMRC (Education Media Research Centre) status to telecast fully independent programmes meant for UGC countrywide class room. 1995 - An application was made to the Univesity of Calcutta for affiliation of Chitrabani Film Studies Courses at St. Xavier’s College and the same was accepted. The communication Department started.
 * 1970 - First film Study group having nine months initiation to film appreciation, followed by 12 weekly lectures with 135 students and 15 week first systematic course on cinema at Xavier Institute of communication, Mumbai.Chitrabani produced text books on cinema.
 * 1972- Setting up of a non-commercial photographic dark room in St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata
 * 1973- Setting up of non-commercial sound recording studio at St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata for High School students and a professional audio studio.
 * 1974 - First course in still photography
 * 1978 - Introduction of an Open syllabus in social communication for 12-24 months course. 25 students received diploma in Communication,
 * 1980 - Chitrabani started the Bengali Service for Radio Veritas Asia (RVA). It went on air with its Bengali programmes on 1st December 1980 with Dr. Raman Majumdar coordinating it from Philippines.
 * 1984 - First two year training program in still photography introduced.
 * 1985-86 - Setting up of the Audio Visual Research Centre (AVRC) of St. Xavier’s College. Chatrabani arranged space and administrative infrastructure for its growth with financial assistance from the University Grants Commission (UGC), Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India,
 * 1989 - Chitrabani Film Studies Courses were made regularised.
 * 1992 - Regular training in filmmaking.
 * 1992 - Chitrabani started imparting of Adult Education under the banner CHETANA  in association with  RVA, Manila. 10 lakh listeners spread out in India and Bangladesh were benefitted.
 * 1996 - Regular radio training programme for rural people started.
 * 2004 - Kolkata short film festival (KSFF) began.

Courses
Chitrabani offers seven courses across two streams- Certificate 4 courses ( 1 week to 3 months durations) and Diploma 3 courses ( 3 months to 1 year durations)


 * Certificate-


 * Certificate in Scriptwriting
 * Cinematography
 * Certificate in Digital editing
 * Certificate in Radio Program Production 


 * UGC Diploma -


 * Certificate in Film making
 * Journalism and Mass communication course
 * Diploma in Fine Arts for Animation 2D

Reference
Category:1970 establishments in West Bengal Category:Film organisations in India Category:Film schools in India Category:Communication studies Category: Media studies