Students of the Documentary Cinema Department at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Itanagar, have issued an urgent appeal to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI), alleging unresolved infrastructural and academic gaps that they say have compromised their first semester and threaten to derail the remainder of their course.
In a detailed 16-page letter dated November 20, the 10-member first batch stated that they will not return to campus for the second semester unless the government provides a “time-bound, itemised action plan” to address delays, incomplete facilities, a lack of equipment, and what they described as systemic administrative failures.
The letter, shared with Maktoob, said that students had repeatedly raised concerns through emails, meetings, and two academic halts earlier this year, but “no significant visible development” has taken place on campus since August.
They alleged that several core facilities remain unfinished, including the sound studio, studio floor, preview theatre and classroom theatres, which they say are essential for documentary training.
“Our intention has always been to learn… We are not resisting education; we are asking for an environment where education is realistically possible,” the letter said.
Among their major complaints are limited access to cameras, lack of dedicated research workstations, no provision for laptops during fieldwork, and an absence of practical modules across documentary formats. Students also cited the institute’s remote location in Jollang Rakap village, saying the absence of nearby grocery supplies forces them to spend weekends travelling to Itanagar for essentials, affecting their academic time.
The letter described the course as being at risk of “losing educational and industry validity” without basic facilities like a sound studio, which students say is indispensable for documentary post-production. Visiting faculty, including sound designer Sneha Khanwalkar, had to reduce the depth of instruction due to missing infrastructure, it said.
The students also raised concerns about missing institutional visibility, including the absence of a functional website, official email IDs, student ID cards and social media presence. They said this affects their professional prospects, internships and networking opportunities.
The demands listed include completing pending construction, operationalising an industry-standard sound studio, ensuring adequate camera access, establishing a structured cultural orientation programme, planning the monsoon break with student participation, and setting up student exchange programmes. They also asked for an on-campus supply system for basic groceries and a transport facility for fieldwork.
The students said temporary or makeshift arrangements would not be acceptable and insisted on “permanent solutions” to protect the credibility of the programme and the future of the institute’s first batch.
