By A Correspondent
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has announced the 15th edition of its annual Frames convention for the media and entertainment industry.
FICCI Frames 2014 will be held from March 12 to 14, 2014 in Powai, Mumbai. Nearly 2000 Indian and 600 foreign delegates are expected to attend. The theme of Frames 2014 is “Media and Entertainment: Transforming Lives” highlighting the role of media and entertainment as a vehicle for social change (*See Disclosure).
The convention will discuss reforms and regulatory endeavours along with working on ideas on socially meaningful and quality content. The inaugural keynote will be by FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai who will touch upon content in the regulatory landscape in the US. Raghav Bahl, Controlling Shareholder and Managing Director of the TV 18 Group will make the theme keynote address on Media and Entertainment as a Vehicle for Social and Economic Change.  Aroon Purie , Chairman India Today Group, will deliver the keynote on Print Industry: Surviving All Odds in the Digital Era. Justin Osofsky, VP – Media Partnerships, Facebook will talk on ‘Establishing Social Networks as the Primary Online Forum for Public Conversations ‘.
Apart from the core theme, Frames 2014 will focus on key avenues for monetising the sector such as Talking Numbers: Hard Facts about M &E’s Economic Contribution; TV 3.1: Content, Strategies and the Future of Broadcast; De-bottlenecking the Regulatory Hurdles, The Changing Dynamics of the Film Exhibition Landscape.
Stakeholders and thought leaders such as Uday Shankar, CEO, Star India and Chairman FICCI Entertainment committee, Karan Johar, Chairman , Ficci Frames, Punit Goenka, MD & CEO , Zee Entertainment, Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO Viacom 18, Mathieu Bejot, Executive Director, TV France International, Roger Fisk, Presidential PR Guru from President Obama’s electoral campaign; Jim Egan, CEO, BBC Global News, Andrew Lack, Chairman, the Bloomberg Group; Bill Livek , CEO, Rentrak,  Kim Dalton, Chairman, Asian Animation Summit; Hiromichi Masuda, Vice Chairman Business Committee, The Association of Japanese Animations,Todd Miller, the CEO of Celestial Tiger Entertainment, a Lionsgate joint venture and former head of Sony Pictures Television, are slated to speak at Frames 2014.
Frames 2014 has been planned with some off-the-cuff sessions to broaden the conventional boundaries of the summit. Sessions such as “Internet & Democracy: Interloper or Catalyst?”, “The Film that Changed My Life” and “The Indian Electronic News Media: On Fine Balance?” will be held.
A discussion specific to attracting the influx of private equity for the sector has been planned and film funding is a subject which will be deliberated upon. A Producers’ Masterclass wherein producers like Andy Paterson and Guneet Monga will discuss the overarching role of a producer in taking a film from start to finish. Masterclasses with acclaimed Hollywood VFX supervisors such as George Murphy , Oscar winner and Chief Creative Officer, Reliance Media works , Jon Cowley and Ben Murray  of Prime focus world are also in the offing. The cinema exhibition sector will be dealt with at the “Cinema Advertising & Alternative Models: The Changing Dynamics of the Film Exhibition Landscape” session. Creative sessions on “The Past Present and Future of Good Cinema: Film-making for a Cause” and “Cuts so Deep: Are we Sacrificing Creativity at the Altar of Morality” will focus on ‘meaningful cinematic content’.
Australia is the partner country and Karnataka the “Partner State” at FICCI Frames 2014. Srivatsa Krishna , Secretary, Deptartment of IT , BT & S and T , Govt. Of Karnataka will touch upon how Karnataka has been doing much to promote growth and development of its M&E industry
An innovative feature of this year’s edition of Frames will be the FICCI-Ink Salon, an exclusive by-invite only daily hour-long session with speakers from the Indian part of TED talks. The BAF award show and networking evenings will as usual be the hallmarks of the after-hours.
*Disclosure: MxMIndia is a Media Partner of FICCI Frames 2014
