NEW DLEHI: The first National Students Film Awards and Students Film Festival of India is to be held in April in Pune to mark the centenary of cinema.

Films and Television Institute of India Director Mr D J Narain said this was being done jointly by the FTII and the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Kolkata in collaboration with Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

These Awards functions will be held alternately in FTII Pune and SRFTI Kolkata. The inaugural event will be held in Pune, probably in the second or third week of April 2013, once all the categories are filled and entries received. The value of the awards is Rs one lakh each for the best film in respective categories. In addition the jury has the discretion of conferring other special Awards such as Merit Certificates.

He added that the festival and the awards are aimed at providing a platform for young and upcoming student filmmakers all over the country belonging to any institution, film schools, colleges etc. But students will have to route their entries through their institutions, and not individually. After all the entries are received, a multi-tier independent jury comprising eminent filmmakers from across the country will make the selection for the Festival as well as for the Awards.

All the entries are invited in three categories of Short Fiction (Duration up to 10 minutes and above 10 minutes up to 30 minutes), Non-Fiction (Duration up to 10 minutes and above 10 minutes up to 30 minutes), Animation (Duration up to 30 minutes). Entries can be in any language but must have sub-titles in English.

The closing date for submission of entries is 15 January and the entry fee for submitting an entry is Rs 500 for each entry (Maximum 12 entries per institution).