Inaugurating the Flims Division’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in Bangalore on Wednesday, as part of which a “Documentary, Short and Animation Films Festival” was also launched he said the negligence of Films Division by the Government and bureaucrats was deplorable.

He said during a recent visit he saw many films can lying in the corridors with dust, when they are needed to be digitalised and preserved.

Union Ministry’s Director of Films, Amitabh Kumar said, the Ministry had released Rs 18 to 20 crore for digitalisation of the Films Division’s archives. Around 8,100 and odd films would be digitalised by the end of this year, he said.

Films Division’s Chief Producer Kuldeep Sinha said, the Division was setting up a Scholarship Centre for students to facilitate cinema related study and research, in Mumbai, and sought suggestions from studio owners, directors and producers of films.

The Films Festival began with the screening of a 17-minute documentary film “60 Years of Films Division.” Six other films of different languages were screened.

On Thursday, 16 films will be screened from 10 am. A total of 50 documentaries are being screened at the Festival running till August 30, at Mangala Mantapa auditorium, NMKRV Women’s College premises, 3rd block, Jayanagar, Bangalore, between 10 am and 6.30 pm everyday.