India, Canada ink audio-visual co-production agreement

India and Canada today signed an audio-visual co-production agreement which will enable film producers from both countries to collaborate in various facets of film making.
The agreement is expected to benefit producers from both the countries in pooling their creative, artistic, technical, financial and marketing resources for co-production, I&B Ministry said in a statement.
It will also lead to exchange of art and culture between the two sides and create goodwill, the statement said.
The agreement was signed by I&B Secretary Bimal Julka and High Commissioner of Canada to India Stewart Beck here.
Since the agreement is expected to boost utilisation of Indian locales for shooting, it will increase visibility of India as a preferred film shooting destination, the ministry said.

The agreement will also lead to transparent funding of film production and boost export of Indian films to Canadian market, it said.

India has earlier signed similar agreements with Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, France, New Zealand, Poland and Spain.
The statement said films produced under such agreements would be eligible for National Film Awards and the Indian Panorama section of IFFI.
Such films also get the opportunity to be released through Indian distribution network and hence co-production opens up the Indian consumer market to the foreign producer, it added.