Ministry of External Affairs launches campaign on Youtube

MUMBAI: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has launched the second edition of its " India is...a Visual Journey" short-film contest aimed at bringing out unique perspectives on the country by both amateur and experienced filmmakers.

This is the second edition of the contest and this year, it has been launched with much more fanfare, with an exclusive tie-up with the video sharing website Youtube which will host the entries.

The alliance was announced here between the ministry and Youtube over the weekend.

The ministry has also tied up with filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who will be making five short-films and has also offered to let the winner direct a sequence in his movie.

MEA joint secretary and head of public diplomacy division Riya Ganguly Das said that last year's contest had received 250 entries from 42 countries and expressed hope this year the number of entries would go up manifold due to improved efforts.

Akshay Tandon of the communications agency Skarma, which is steering the contest on behalf of the ministry, said last year there were no special effort at marketing, with all the efforts limited to the digital space.

Youtube director for content partnerships in the Asia Pacific region Gautam Anand said the country is a very important geography for the website, with 10,000 full length feature films and 20,000 hours of television programming which makes the country third biggest globally in terms of views and revenue.

Youtube Asia Pacific head Adam Smith said this initiative will be the next stage of growth for Youtube India.

As part of the contest, users can upload five minutes content under the categories "India is unforgettable", "India is incredible" and "India is where you are" by February 9, 2013 on the dedicated Youtube channel for the contest to win exciting prizes.