BOFTA is officially launched today (4th March 2015) by the Legends of Tamil Cinema Blue Ocean Film & Television Academy (BOFTA) is a newly formed Academy/Institute, backed and managed by professionals from the Film and Television industry, with over 20 years of experience and relationship with top talents. Unlike other film schools or institutes, where the top talents visit them as guest lecturers once in a while, at BOFTA, top talents are brought in as regular faculty to interact with the students and teach them the nuances of film making and television program management. The Academy offers a rare combination of legends and experts from the new age media industry joining hands to teach under a single umbrella called BOFTA and it will be the biggest platform for students to learn from the Masters. BOFTA’s objective is to enable the students to enhance and display their creativity, so that they get the right opportunities in the film and television industry. BOFTA will follow a culture of learning with fun so that the best creativity and talent from students emerge in an easy and free atmosphere. BOFTA is set up with a clear vision to offer job oriented courses so that the students passing out of the Academy are ready to be employed by the industry. Most courses are designed and developed with the focus on practical learning from the Masters and are up to date, keeping in mind the current technological, social, cultural and economic changes. BOFTA’s Vision is to become South India’s most reputed Film and Television Academy, backed and managed by Experts and Professionals from the industry. We aim at training and developing talent by imparting practical knowledge, to help students achieve their career dreams and can be ‘readily employed’ by the industry. BOFTA’s Faculty: Head of the Department for Direction course: Direction Mahendran Head of the Department for Screenplay Writing course: Direction K. Bhagyaraj Head of the Department for Acting course: Actor Nasser Head of the Department for Cinematography course: Cinematographer Madhu Ambat Head of the Department for Editing course: Editor B. Lenin Head of the Department for Film Journalism course: Cartoonist Madhan Head of the Department for Television Production course: Actress Kutty Padhmini Head of the Department for Film Production Management course: Producer T. Siva Senior Faculty for the above departments: Direction and Screenplay writing course: Directors R. Parthiban, Manobala, Gnana Rajasekaran, K. Rajeshwar, Sasi, Venkat Prabhu, Vishnuvardhan, Vijay, Pandiraj, Ram, Karthik Subbaraj, R.S. Prasanna, Writer Karundhel Rajesh and Historian Arandhai Manian. Cinematography course: Cinematographers B. Kannan, Mahesh Muthuswami and CJ. Rajkumar Acting course: Actor Shanmugraja and Chandra Mohan. The Academy will also have the Star Guest Faculty of Actors Rajesh, ‘Thalaivasal’ Vijay, Jiiva and Rohini. Film Journalism course: Mohan Raman, Sreedhar Pillai and Cabe Sankar Film Production course: Producers G. Dhananjayan, J. Satish Kumar, Director Cable Sankar and Production Designer R. Venkat. Except the Film Production and Film Journalism courses, which are for 6 months each, the other 6 courses are for 12 months period. Courses commencing on 1st July 2015 and the admissions commence from today. The classes will be held from 9.30 a.m to 4.30 p.m from Monday to Saturday. The Academy is set up in a 3-storey building in the heart of Tamil Film Industry (Kollywood) at BOFTA, Raviprasad Film Labs, No.8 to 11, V.O.C. 1st Main Street, Lane before Ram Theatre, Kodambakkam, Chennai – 600 024. The Academy offers world-class infrastructure for students with modern class rooms, a preview theatre, dubbing theatre, editing suite, shooting floors, a library of books and DVDs and film screening rooms for students viewing. Speaking about BOFTA, the co-founder, G. Dhananjayan mentioned that ‘It is dream come true for the students aspiring to enter the film industry by learning directly from the legends and experts of the film and television industry, which will enable them a faster access to the industry. We are delighted with the response from the students aspiring to join the Academy and looking forward to meet them soon to finalize the batches for each of the courses.’ BOFTA is formally launched by Ulaga Nayagan Padma Bhushan Dr. Kamal Haasan today at a glittering ceremony at Music Academy, which was attended by, who is who of the film and television industry. Queen of Television Mrs. Radikaa Sarathkumar unveiled the Student’s Guide, which was received by Mrs. Poornima Bhagyaraj. Popular actor Arya launched the BOFTA’s website www.bofta.in during the event. The faculty team of BOFTA along with several students aspiring to join were present during the event.