Mumbai awarded UNESCO’s Creative City tag for films

The city on Thursday received United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s ‘Creative City’ tag under the film category on the occasion

The city on Thursday received United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s ‘Creative City’ tag under the film category on the occasion of World Cities Day, celebrated on October 31.

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Mumbai was among 66 cities across the world to be tagged as ‘Creative Cities’ on Thursday, along with Hyderabad, which got recognition under the gastronomy category.

UNESCO awards the ‘Creative City’ status under seven categories, including films, and picks cities that commit to placing culture at the centre of their development strategies. Mumbai and Hyderabad are now part of a network of 246 designated ‘Creative Cities’, joining Chennai,Varanasi and Jaipur from India.

In June, the civic body had applied for the tag for Mumbai to UNESCO’s Creative Cities Programme. In its application, the BMC pledged that, “It [the Creative Cities tag] would open up opportunities for filmmakers and students from the network sister cities to experience the film-making process in Mumbai.” A senior civic official said the tag will give Mumbai recognition on the international level and promote socio-economic development, expertise, employment, and inward investment into the local film industry. “We encourage participation of all sections of societies in films. Mumbai has screenings for civic school students; exchange programmes; and film festivals like MAMI and Kashish,” he said. Among the other cities designated under the film category on Thursday are Potsdam from Germany, Sarajevo from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Valladolid from Spain, and Wellington from New Zealand.