Affiliated to: International Federation of Film Societies
The Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI) was formed on 13 December 1959. The Memorandum of Association of FFSI was adopted by 07 representatives of 06 film societies like: Vijaya Mulay of Delhi Film Society, Arun Roychowdhury of Patna Film Society, Tryambakal Pathak of Roorkee Film Society, Robert E. Hawkins of Bombay Film Society, E.B. Samuel of Madras Film Society, Hiran Kumar Sanyal and Chidananda Dasgupta of Calcutta Film Society. The memorandum was vetted by M.D. Bhatt, ICS who was the chairman of the Film Advisory Board of the Government of India. The very first governing body of FFSI was formed with Satyajit Ray as the president, Ammu Swaminathan, Robert Hawkins and S. Gopalan as the vice presidents, Vijaya Mulay and Chidananda Dasgupta as the joint secretaries, D. Pramanick and Abul Hasan as joint treasurers, Rajammal Anantharaman, Rita Roy (Kobita Sarkar), K.L. Khandpur, Jag Mohan, A. Rehman and Arun Roychowdhury as the executive committee members. Registered office of FFSI was situated in Calcutta (now Kolkata). Primary objectives of the FFSI as declared in the first memorandum were to promote the study of the film as an art and a social force, to encourage the production of films of artistic value, to promote public appreciation of films of artistic value, to show film classics and outstanding current films from all over the world, to promote research on cinema, to promote and coordinate the activities of film societies and to co-operate with national and international organizations having similar objects. Emphasis was given to organize and participate in film festivals, lectures, seminars, conferences etc. in India and abroad, and to promote the formation of film societies and develop the film society movement all over the country.
Since its inception, the registered office of FFSI has been in Calcutta. Central office was also in Calcutta from 1959 to 2006. Then for some period of time the central office was shifted first from Calcutta to Bombay (2006-10), and then from Bombay to Hyderabad (2010-14), but then again it came back to Calcutta in 2014, at the same premises where the office is registered at the second floor of Bharat Bhavan in Esplanade, at the heart of the city. Satyajit Ray continued as the president of FFSI for thirty two years from 13 December 1959 to 23 April 1992, till his last breath. Immediately after Ray, the then vice president Mrinal Sen took over the charge of the office of the president but soon he resigned to avoid an ongoing legal suit filed by a film society in Calcutta against FFSI. But next year he became the president of the International Federation of Film Societies (IFFS) and continued there for two terms 1993-95 and 1995-97. After Sen’s resignation from the post of the president of FFSI, the renowned actor Anil Chattopadhyay, acclaimed highly for his brilliant performance in several films of Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Tapan Sinha and others, took over the charge and continued for four years (1992-96). After him, Chandran Naiar (1996-2000), Vijaya Mulay (2000-01), Moinul Hasan (2001-04), Shyam Benegal (2004-10) [in pic], H.N. Narahari Rao (2010-12), Kiran Shantaram (2012-14), and Gautam Kaul (2014-16) were elected as the presidents one after another. After Gautam Kaul, Kiran Shantaram, son of the legendary filmmaker V. Shantaram, was further elected as the president in 2016 and since then he is continuing in the office. At the time of formation in 1959, Vijaya Mulay and Chidananda Dasgupta took the charge of the office as the joint secretaries and they continued for two decades till 1980. After them, the charge of the office of the general secretary was vested with Arun Pramanik (1980-82), Ajay De (1982-90), S.V. Raman (1990-92), Partha Raha (1992-96), Ajay Sengupta (1996-2000), Tapas Ray (2000-02), Jayanta Dutta (2002-04), Ajay Sengupta (2004-06), Sudhir Nandgaonkar (2006-10), Mani Ramamoorthy (2010-14), Premendra Mazumder (2014-16), and Amitava Ghosh (2016-) who is still continuing.
Initially there were three zones of FFSI, East, North, and South-West with their offices in Calcutta, Delhi, and Bombay, and headquarters in Calcutta. By 1969, when the number of affiliated film societies crossed a hundred, the zones were renamed as regions and four regions were created in North, East, West, and South. Due to rapid growth of film societies in Kerala, there was long demand for a separate region for the state, and finally in 2019, it was created and FFSI was extended to five regions – North, East, West, South, and Kerala with their offices in Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay, Hyderabad, and Trivandrum, with the registered office and central office in Calcutta. Number of film societies affiliated with FFSI was 06 in 1959, 23 in 1964, 108 in 1967, 111 in 1971, 169 in 1978, 216 in 1981, 253 in 2000, 274 in 2012, 293 in 2013, 319 in 2018, and 333 in 2024. As on 31 March 2024 there are 13 active film societies in the Northern Region affiliated to FFSI in Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Haryana. In the Western Region out of 146 affiliated film societies in Maharashtra, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujrat, 21 are active, and most of them are in Maharashtra. Out of more than a hundred affiliated film societies in the Southern Region, 26 are active including 09 in Karnataka, 08 in Andhra Pradesh, 06 in Telangana, 02 in Tamil Nadu, and 01 in Puducherry. Number of active film societies decreased drastically in the South as Kerala was taken out of this region. Now there are 151 active film societies in Kerala Region alone which is the highest in a single state. In the Eastern Region, out of 104 affiliated film societies, 45 are now active, out of which 30 are in West Bengal, 06 in Assam, 02 in Odisha, and 01 each in Andaman and Nicobar Island, Bihar, Jharkhand, Tripura, Meghalaya, Manipur, and Nagaland. Also, there are 63 campus film societies affiliated to the Western Region, and 14 to the Eastern Region. Thus, as on 31 March 2024, the total number of film societies affiliated with FFSI is 333.
(Text written by: Premendra Mazumder, vice president, FFSI. For the entire history of the Film Society Movement in India, read the article at: https://fipresci-india.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1.-Art.-Premendra-Mazumder-FSM.pdf)