Published: 10:24 AM, 22 July 2026
Gold Mercury Council seat for director Goutam Ghose
Filmmaker Goutam Ghose has become the first Indian to be appointed to the Gold Mercury Council, the principal governing body of Gold Mercury International, the London-based institution for Visionary Governance. Established in 1961, Gold Mercury International is a well-established institution that has built global recognition through its long history of providing strategic foresight on complex global challenges. It also presents the prestigious Gold Mercury Awards, whose most recent laureate is His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, honoured for creating a Culture of Peace and Wisdom.
Speaking to TOI from London, Nicolas De Santis, president of Gold Mercury, said, “Goutam Ghose has devoted his life to exploring the human condition through cinema. As artificial intelligence begins to transform filmmaking, creativity and cultural expression, his experience will be invaluable to Gold Mercury’s work on the future of culture and the creative industries. We are honoured to welcome him to the Gold Mercury Council, where he will also contribute to our Artificial Intelligence Task Force, helping ensure that technological progress strengthens rather than diminishes our shared humanity.”
The Gold Mercury Council currently comprises 33 members, including former presidents of countries, members of royal houses, former presidents of international institutions, former European Commissioners, pioneering scientists, distinguished journalists, business leaders and other internationally recognised figures from culture, academia and civil society.
Honoured to be a part of the council, Ghose remarked, “Cinema has the unique power to shape how societies understand themselves and imagine their future.” He noted that while change is a constant in filmmaking—from the transition to sound and colour to the shift from analogue to digital—the role of emerging tools like AI depends entirely on human perception.
