Amazon India has signed a Letter of Engagement with the Indian government’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) in a bid to boost the country’s creative economy.
The collaboration will promote creative talent in India with a focus on building skills and showcasing content made in the country on the global stage.
With support from MIB, Amazon Prime will create internships, and scholarship opportunities for students at the Film and Television Institute of India and Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute. Masterclasses will also be curated for students and people selected under MIB’s 75 Creative Minds of Tomorrow, an initiative that aims to identify and nurture young creative talent in filmmaking.
The new collaboration will also see content from the National Film Development Corporation NFDC, state broadcaster Doordarshan and the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) showcased on Prime Video and miniTV (Amazon’s free, ad-supported OTT service) to commemorate 75 years of Indian independence.
Amazon-owned IMDb and the NFDC will also work together to enhance the discoverability of Indian talent through the global database.
In addition, a special storefront on Amazon.in will be curated to list books and other MIB publications while Alexa devices and Amazon Music will work to promote diverse Indian music.
The letter was signed at the National Media Centre in New Delhi today (April 5), overseen by Anurag Thakur, India’s minister for information and broadcasting and youth affairs and sports, Chetan Krishnaswamy, vice president of public policy at Amazon India, and Gaurav Gandhi, vice president for Asia Pacific at Prime Video.
Thakur said: “The partnership would help to strengthen industry-academia linkages through provisions for scholarships, internships, masterclasses, and other opportunities for students at Film and Television Institute of India and Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute of India, and help to reduce the period of struggle for the talented artists coming out of prestigious film institutes of India.”
Krishnaswamy said Amazon had been working with the Indian government over the years to “create a meaningful impact at scale through our various collaborations and initiatives”. He added: “As the Indian economy expands at a fast-clip, Amazon is uniquely placed to contribute to the nation’s growth journey on multiple fronts including e-commerce, logistics, digital skilling, cloud computing, payments, artificial intelligence and in building the creative economy.”
Gandhi said of the new agreement: “Our rich cultural diversity offers immense potential, to drive a thriving creative economy and further India’s soft power, internationally. Our holistic collaboration with MIB, looks at every life stage and every-corner of integration to stimulate the growth of the industry.”
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