Study Guide:

PROLOGUE
The film industry, or motion picture industry, includes the commercial and technological
institutions of filmmaking, i.e. cinematography, production companies, film studios, film
production, film festivals, screenwriting, pre-production, post production, distribution; actors,
film directors and other film crews.
These motion pictures include both small and big budget projects from different countries and
involve a significant amount of money involved. The different sorts of film festivals and film
awards are organized by both regional film academies and major media corporations in order to
exhibit, acknowledge and promote the efforts of filmmakers of that particular region.
The film industry, like any other major service industry, is a prime contributor when it comes
down to the numbers. It contributed a staggering $ 88 billion worldwide in 2015 alone, more
than the net worth of the worlds richest man. However, just like the pros it has its cons too. The
major issues that the film industry is facing right now includes gender inequality and harassment,
content piracy, censoring and film propaganda are just to name a few.
The objective of this committee will be to discuss the feasibility of establishing an international
film industry award, whether they need to be established under the mandate of an entire new
organization or could they encompassed in one of the existing film awards. Moreover, the
committee would also be developing the framework as well as the categories that it will consists
of, keeping in mind that the key issues the world film industry must be addressed respectively.
The members present in the committee will be representing a character that would be either an
actor, director, producer, composer or a representative of a major production house from major
film industries including Hollywood, Bollywood and Lollywood, whose task would be to help the
committee reach a viable solution in terms of determining the future of international film awards
while bearing their policy or stance in mind while discussing the issues at hand.
 Background
Film Industry Awards are a measure initiated to honor the cinematic achievements in film
industry by notable contributions by certain talented and hard-working individuals in the spirit
of recognizing their achievements. These awards were established by regional artists guilds or
film industries, which later on evolved with the involvement of major media powerhouses
creating their own film awards in respective countries.

OSCARS THE ACADEMY AWARDS

The first film industry awards were organized as the First Academy Awards, presented on May
16, 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, Los Angeles being attended by an audience of only
270 people. Much has changed since then, as the awards developed a reputation of being the
most reputable and recognized awards in the film industry, commonly known as the Oscars.
The Academy Awards are judged and granted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences (AMPAS), which constitutes of professionals having a strong membership of nearly 6,000
people. The members are allowed to vote and are divided into different categories upon the basis
of their respective professional disciplines they belong to, with the actors guild forming the
largest bloc, constituting of more than 1,300 members alone. Every years new members are
inducted in the AMPAS, however, a stricter criteria has been in place lately to main the steady
size of the voting panel.
In order for a motion picture to be eligible for any of the mention categories, the film must be
released in a previous calendar year from midnight of 1st January to the 31st December of the
selected year, playing for at least seven consecutive days to qualify, except for the Best Foreign
Language Film category. Moreover, the film must be a feature length i.e. a minimum of 40
minutes, except for the films competing for the short film category, as per the technical details
including the motion picture to be shot on either 35mm or 70mm film in accordance with the
industry standard.
There is a special categories like Animated Feature Film, Documentary and Foreign Films. The
Foreign Film category is the one that is subjected to entries from all around the world in the
regional or local language, but including English subtitles. One country can only submit one entry
per year and the best five films are then shortlisted and then voted upon by the voting members.
Oscars indeed hold a high stature among film industry awards, one that cannot be matched single
handedly by any other film academy awards. It also promises the opportunity to foreign films in
terms of providing them an entirely separate category. However, the question whether the
Academy Awards are doing enough to grant equal opportunities for representation is often asked
by experts as they believe that it isnt committing enough, throwing doubt on its status as the
premier international film academy awards.
INDIAN FILM AWARDS
India is the largest producer of motion pictures on a yearly basis and is only behind North America
and China in terms of the revenue generated by its film industry. Bollywood has a reach far
greater than any other regional cinema as it not only attends to its domestic market but also to
international markets such as South East Asia, Middle East, Africa, Europe and North America.
The Indian film industry is a force to be reckoned with and its industry awards advocate no less.
The oldest film awards in Indian cinema are the National Film Awards which are granted by the
Government of India to the most deserving film selected by a panel of government officials. The
other is the Filmfare Awards which was established by The Times Group and is considered to be
a prestigious award in the country. Followed by the Indian International Film Academy Awards
(IIFA) which are managed, regulated and granted by the Indian Film Academy.

PAKISTANI FILM AWARDS

Pakistans film industry, also known as Lollywood, constitutes of the Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto
and Balochi language based films. Despite the lack of quality films being produced in the last
decades, certain film industry awards kept on carrying the tradition and now have developed a
reputation of being one of the countrys most prestigious awards such as the Lux Style Awards.
Following Shoaib Mansoors two back to back blockbuster hits in the form of Khuda Kay Liyay and
Bol in Pakistan, theres a rejuvenating spirit in the Pakistani film industry. Apart from Lux Style
Awards, several media conglomerates have also established their respective versions of film
awards such as Nigar Awards and ARY Film Awards.
A mixture of old faces and young talent has uplifted the renaissance of Pakistani film industry
creating movies like Waar, Na Maloom Afraad, Moor & Jawani Phir Nahi Ani. Pakistan boasts a
great amount of talent and has a massive market to cater to, however, it is still yet to establish
its reputation as a major player in the film industry both regionally and internationally.

OTHER FILM AWARDS

Apart from the three woods, different film industries have their own versions of film awards.
Notable inclusions consists of the British Film Academy Awards (BAFTA), the Golden Globe
Awards, Lumieres Award and the Cesar Award for most notable contribution in the film industry.
There are several film awards proclaiming to be international and do not represent a specific
region or film guild for that matter. The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) is one
example which is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film
journalists from around the world trying to promote the film culture around the world. The
FIRPRESCI was established during 1930 in Brussels, Belgium, having members in more than 30
countries worldwide as of now.
Moreover there also an online based critic award known as International Online Films Critics Poll
(IOFCP) which is a biannual polling of film critics from United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy,
France, Poland and Canada. Such awards tend to highlight the contribution of the journalists in
the form of positive and negative critique.

INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVALS

Film festivals are an organized exhibition of films in one or more than one screening venues
usually in a particular region, mostly being shown outdoors. These festivals can include both
domestic and international releases as per their rules. They may also be genre based, focusing
targeted filmmakers to showcase their case regardless of their country of origin. The film festivals
play a vital role for the film industry since it allows low budget movies a platform for exhibition,
allowing them to market relying on the positive critique for their motion picture instead of
spending big. However, film festivals shouldnt be mixed with film industry awards since they
both have an entirely different purpose. The festivals intend to showcase films while the awards
aim to promote and reward them.
There are quite a few popular film festivals that take place throughout the year, including some
festivals who hold a prestigious status among the film industry itself. Such are the examples of
the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, New
York Film Festival and the Raindance Film Festival. The latter not only provides a platform of
exhibition but it also provides an opportunity for short films to be selected for Oscars.
Europe and North America arent the only place to organize film festivals, as Asia is also host to
some notable film festivals including the Melbourne Film Festival, Shanghai International Festival,
Tokyo Film Festival and the International Indian Film Festival.

The Economics of Movies

The film business in North America is dominated by a handful of studios who end up producing
all the major projects that are set to be released. Furthermore, due to the increasing financial
returns in this industry, business tycoons have been tempted to invest in the film industry causing
it to grow rapidly. The story is pretty much the same for the Indian film industry. However,
Pakistan is facing an entirely new situation as it seeks for the revival of its cinema all thanks to
the good flicks it has recently been producing.
China has also been a key major player in terms of the film industry as all the financial indicators
point out in the right director for the Red Dragon. The Chinese Film Academy has two actors, a
male and a female, in their respective top ten earning categories, as well as the revenue its
market is able to generate promises a thriving future for the film industry.
The total film entertainment revenue worldwide constituted of USD 88 billion as of last year, out
of which USD 39.1 billion was earned from Global box office revenue, which is a USD 2.7 million
increase in a span of one year. China is the leading box office market revenue contributing USD
4.8 billion, while India leads with 1,966 films produced in 2014 alone.

Its not only the production houses that are raking up all the cash, the artists have their fair share
too. The top 15 earners last year made a combined chunk of half a billion dollars, with Robert
Downey Jr. leading the way earning USD 80 million. Only two actresses made it in the top 15,
namely Jennifer Lawrence and Scarlett Johansson, while four non-Americans made it to the list
including Jackie Chan, Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar.
 The World's Highest Paid Actors
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80
70
60
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Salary (in USD millions) Column1 Column2

Discrimination & Racism

RACISM
Racism has been a major issue not only at the film industry level but worldwide for quite some
time now. However the equal representation to people of all backgrounds is not equally
represented, especially at the Academy Awards where the both the first African American Actor
and Actress won the award for the first and only time following the start of the 21 st century. The
case is slightly better when it comes Bollywood or Lollywood, as it apparently seems like the
smaller the industry is the lesser the power distance and lobbying is, resulting in a fairly balanced
film industry structure.

WOMEN DISCRIMINATION
Its often said that women arent getting their fair share when it comes the show business. The
stats when compared between men and women, along with who is contributing more to the film
industry ends up describing the huge gap between the two. Females arent only paid less but are
also subjected to fewer opportunities in the film industry.
According to a research conducted at the University of Southern California on how women are
portrayed on screen in the top 500 films between 2007 and 2012 showed that women constitute
of only 30% of speaking characters, while one third of those speaking characters appear in
sexually revealing attire or partially naked. Only 10% movies feature a balanced cast where both
male and female characters are equal. The numbers arent optimistic for women even when
theyre behind the screens as only 9% directors, 15% writers, 25% producers & 2%
cinematographers as female.
Furthermore, the problems for women dont end here. Theyre subjected to sexism and in certain
cases sexual harassment. Women working in the film industry in Southeast Asia have to deal with
the latter. The oversexualising and objectification of women through item numbers dont help
much towards building the strong, equal and respectable reputation of women in the film
industry. The case isnt much difference for Hollywood as well, as women are subjected to nudity
two times more than their male colleagues. Yet, some still argue on the fact that expressions of
sexuality or nudity through film is an exhibition of art and shows the independent women who
can be confident with her body as men are.
SONY LEAKED E-MAILS SCANDAL
The women wage inequality is issue that rose to prominence following the leaked emails from
Sony Pictures in 2014 that not only led to the deterioration between the US-North Korean
diplomatic relations but also reflected the tremendous difference in wages between male and
female starring for the lead roles in the same movie. Jennifer Lawrence came to find out that she
was paid much less than her male co-stars for American Hustle, which led to her strong reaction
in the form of a short essay proclaiming that women are judged for their inflexibility while men
get away with it using the strong negotiation tool as a way to earn more money.
The leaked e-mail case spread like wildfire as more and more female celebrities came to know
how less theyre being paid compared to their male counter parts. This did not only highlight the
fact that women are provided much lesser opportunities in the show business but it also formed
a movement. At the 2014 Academy Awards, Patricia Arquette came to the aid of women as she
highlight the need to get rid of gender pay gap during her Oscars acceptance speech for Best
Supporting Actress Award.
The response to equal pay for women has been somewhat mixed globally. Some female artists
such as the French actress, Marion Cotillard, believes that the segregation between men and
women shouldnt be highlighted in the film industry since there is no place for feminism in the
film industry. Other celebrities such as the Bollywood diva, Deepika Padukone, stated that she
has no problems working with senior male actors who are being paid more than her. However,
she implied that the situation wouldnt be the same if she was to work with a male co-star equal
of her experience, she would resort to demanding equal wages for that project.

Content Piracy
COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
The use of content, without the permission of the owner, that are protected by copyright law
infringes certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, including the right to reproduce,
distribute or make derivate works is known as copyright infringement.
Often is the case in the show business that the intellectual property is being copied, manipulated
or the creation of derivative work takes place, all without the consent of the owner of that
property. Theres a very thin line between copying a piece of art and using it as an inspiring to
create another. This is the very limit thats often exploited when it comes to the case of copyright
infringement.
Bollywood, and somewhat followed by Lollywood, are often criticized for violating copyrights by
replicating intellectual property using the slightest of editions. The reason for that is both are
very demanding markets and there is neither infrastructure nor quality talent at the moment to
cater to the needs of the masses in an organized and creative way. This leads to the situation
where instead of seeking inspiration, content is copied and translated into the local language to
make their material attractive enough for the audience so that they may flock to the cinemas.

FILM PIRACY
Film piracy is the illegal copying and distribution of movies either in print, video, DVD and or
digital files. It is commonly used around the globe so that people can watch films for cheaper or
even free. Its a very popular choice of watching films as it is quite fast and simple. The target
audience can watch films that are not yet released on film or digital medium as an alternative to
go back to the cinema to see it. Other than the legal risks of film piracy, another fault in pirated
movies is that they are low quality films that are not worth the small expense or the wait that the
legal copy would be.
According to a report published by U.S. India Business Council in 2009, the size of the Indian Film
Industry target market is worth USD 2.095 billion out of which value loss due to piracy results in
USD 0.959 billion i.e. 31% of the potential revenue was lost to piracy in India which is a major
source of concern as not only it compromises the profits that couldnt been gained but also the
loss of jobs that couldve been otherwise created with these earnings.
It is essential that the piracy be addressed properly so that the investors feel assured to invest
more in the movie business to ensure the high quality films being produced. The U.S. Motion
Picture Association of America (MPAA) reported that the U.S. based production houses lost more
than a billion dollars in the U.S. alone and almost the same amount globally in 2005 alone.
Therefore, they recommended different strategies and tactics to use in order to demotivate the
consumption of pirated content, one of them which turned out to be the Stop Online Piracy Act
(SOPA) and the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual
Property Act (PIPA), were presented to the U.S. senate, however, following widespread protests
as it faced a major backlash from major internet based U.S. firms.

Propaganda in Film Industry

Propaganda in film industry is also a major source of concern for certain film industries. The film
propaganda rose to prominence during 1940s when Nazi Germany used it as a tool to advocate
their ideology, and later was used by the Soviet Union to inspire their citizens and their
nationalism to an all-time high. Since the start of the 21st century, propaganda has been very
limited in the film industry, however, the definition and the limitation to which the story of a
particular film can be subject to debate is still under debate.
Whether its Hollywood, Bollywood, Lollywood or any other film industry for that matter, they
are, at one moment or another, subjected to a certain sort of propaganda in the form of an edited
version which glorifies them. Examples of could be seen in the form of Black Hawk Down, Lone
Survivor and American Sniper from Hollywood, Agent Vinod, Baby and Phantom from Bollywood,
and Waar from Lollywood are just few example of such scenarios. This leads to movies of one
particular film industry being banned in the other one. Much has been debated about this
situation, however, due to lack of established consensus regarding to what level historical
inaccuracies or antagonizing one particular group is legitimate leads to censorship of films that
results in a major financial loss for the production house responsible for the creation of the film
in the first place.

Film censorship
Film censorship may refer to the suppression of speech, public communication, obscene scenes
or any other element or information which may be deemed as harmful, sensitive, vulgar, profane,
politically incorrect, ideologically opposing therefore deemed inconvenient by the government,
media or any other such authorities.
Both in India and Pakistan, the censorship board is regulated and controlled by members selected
by the Government who keep a strict check and balance and ensure that the films shown do not
violate they countrys law and principles that it adheres to in the form of tradition.
United States on the other hand, have a slightly different approach to the matter. The censorship
responsibilities are forwarded to the Motion Picture Associate of America which is not selected
by the government but is a panel of experts who belong to the same field of media with the
objective of promoting film culture and keeping the released films in check that they shouldnt
violate ethics are.
Some parties argue that the import of foreign movies is not the problem, the real problem lies in
the export of the culture of the home country that uses the film as an auxiliary measure to
promote it in the first place. Such is the case of American pop culture all around the world that it
has taken everything by a storm. Now conservative governments, who end up controlling the
local film censorship authorities, tend to use it as a control to aggressively monitor, regulate and
propagate the movies being exhibited in their own country with respect to the ideology that they
advocate.
 QARMA (Questions A Resolution Must Answer)
What will be the framework for establishing international film industry awards, whether
they should be introduced within an existing body or to create a new organization
altogether?
What will be the the categories to be defined or redefined in terms of the films being
nominated?
Describe the criteria for selection of films for award nominations as well as the need for
a quota system for equal representation of films from all around the world.
Identify the major economic concerns involved in the production and distribution of films
along with the effects of by piracy? What measures need to be implemented in order to
counter it globally?
Define the role of existing film festivals and regional film awards in establishing
international film awards?
How to tackle women inequality and sexual harassment with respect to the film industry?
Methods to effectively deal with copyright infringement around the world? Should it be
dealt with internationally or regionally?
What is film propaganda? How to ensure films dont promote any sort of propaganda as
a part of their story line?

References
http://www.forbes.com/pictures/emjl45mmei/the-worlds-highest-paid-/
http://www.forbes.com/pictures/emjl45eddhj/the-worlds-highest-paid-/
http://annenberg.usc.edu/pages/~/media/MDSCI/Gender_Inequality_in_500_Popular_Films_-
_Smith_2013.ashx
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/29/marion-cotillard-feminism-film-industry
http://www.statista.com/topics/964/film/
http://www.mpaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/MPAA-Theatrical-Market-Statistics-
2014.pdf
http://sroc.info/files/2313/8391/0535/OECD_study_-_piracy.pdf
http://infojustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Ernst-Young-PIracy-report-India-2009.pdf
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