The 39th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1991.
Also for Best Writing on Cinema, Best Film Critic is awarded with Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus), which was till then awarded with Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus).
A committee headed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta was appointed to evaluate the non-feature films awards.
The awards aim at encouraging study and appreciation of cinema as an art form and dissemination of information and critical appreciation of this art-form through publication of books, articles, reviews etc.
A committee headed by Kamleshwar was appointed to evaluate the writing on Indian cinema.