Tamil film industry comes to standstill as FEFSI calls for indefinite strike

The Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) has called for an indefinite strike, starting from 1 September, in the wake of Tamil Film Producers Council’s (TFPC) maintained stand on not working exclusively with FEFSI members, reports The Hindu. [caption id=“attachment_3997369” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  FEFSI press meet. File picture. Image via Facebook[/caption] FEFSI constitutes of 25,000 members from 23 different fields of art. Recently, TFPC had put out an advertisement inviting students of visual communication and film-making in film schools across the state of Tamil Nadu to apply for various positions like editors, cinematographers, make-up artists, costume designers and other positions. This reportedly irked the FEFSI members and hence they decided to go on strike. “This is an attempt to destroy the union. All film shootings will be cancelled from tomorrow until they agree to our demands. I don’t know what the producers want – we get the feeling that they don’t want us to live. This move of theirs to call for more people will create another union and it will destroy the entire industry. I am angry that our efforts have not been appreciated,” said FEFSI president RK Selvamani. Explaining the stand of TFPC, producer SR Prabhu said, “We need personnel. We have tied up with a few institutions so that there is a constant supply of skilled technicians in departments such as editing, camera assistants, etc. This is an effort to fill the gap. Several of them lack technical knowledge. We only have one demand. Don’t force us to recruit only from FEFSI. We don’t want to be arm-twisted anymore.” The Hindu’s report also adds that FEFSI plans to organise a protest against TFPC on 5 September.