Shillong, May 9: The state government has announced the formation of a selection committee to choose candidates for international or national film festivals based on merit. The committee will be led by the chief secretary, and will include members from the Arts and Culture, Information and Public Relations, and Tourism departments.

This committee will be responsible for selecting candidates who have demonstrated excellence and promise in the field of filmmaking to represent the state at prestigious film festivals around the world.

The decision to establish this committee was taken at a meeting chaired by I&PR Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh with all stakeholder departments. During this meeting, the minister reviewed the nominations of Commander Shangpliang and Nicholas Lemtor Kharkongor to attend the Cannes Film Festival.

After reviewing the nominations of other candidates, it was suggested that Dominic Sangma be recommended to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to attend the festival, as reports indicated that Nicholas Lemtor Kharkongor may have withdrawn from the event, Commissioner & Secretary in-charge IPR Pravin Bakshi said in a statement.

He also maintained that while Departments of the State Government wrote separately for the film festival nominating film personalities of the State, the choice was eventually made by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, Government of India and they are free to do so as a Ministry.

He, however, added that the IPR Department is currently discussing the possibility of substituting Nicholas Lemtor Kharkongor with Dominic Sangma with the Ministry, subject to their guidelines and processes.