The Film Bazaar of National film Development Corporation (NFDC) Kick Starts At Hotel Marriot Goa with a big fanfare. The 9th edition of Film Bazaar witnessed many firsts; and day one was attended by many Indian & International filmmakers. The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, India along with NFDC also launched a Film Facilitation Office at the Film Bazaar on 21st Nov, 2015. Apart from that, Film Bazaar 2015 had interesting sessions in the Knowledge Series by filmmakers like Shoojit Sircar, Anurag Basu, Sudhir Mishra, Theatre Artist – Vani Tripathi Tikoo, Satya Raghavan – Head of Content Operations YouTube India and more.
The Film Facilitation Office (FFO) will be housed in NFDC and will facilitate according permissions for feature films, TV series & advertisement films to be shot in India by filmmakers. The FFO will be additionally charged with facilitating obtaining of clearances from various Government agencies and help in creating on – the – ground support crew for film & ancillary services through standardized vocational training programs.
Post the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting ‘s initiative to set up the Film Facilitation Office, the Ministry of Tourism in association with the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and the NFDC began a 4 day Symposium on Film Tourism with the objective to explore current challenges facing filmmakers to film in India and the steps that can be taken to facilitate greater ease of shooting / producing a feature / non – feature film.
The Symposium began with an interactive session between the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, the Ministry of Tourism & members of the film fraternity from India & abroad led by Sunil Arora, Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting & Vinod Zutshi, and Secretary of Tourism. The deliberations centered on how a single window clearance could effectively deal with the facilitation of an eco – system that would be sensitive to the needs of both the filmmakers & the administration.
The session saw the participation of leading filmmakers like Shyam Benegal, Ramesh Sippy, Prakash Jha, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Anubhav Sinha, Sudhir Mishra, Kabir Khan, Sanjay Suri, Bharat Bala, amongst others. James Weyman, Manager of Industry Initiatives, Ontario Media Development Corporation and Ruth Harley, Former CEO Screen Australia & New Zealand Film Commission shared their experiences at the session while leading line producers like Parvesh Sahni, Iqbal Kidwai, Deborah Benattar spoke of the on – ground challenges of shooting a film.
The NFDC Knowledge Series had an interesting line up with enchanting speakers covering various aspects of filmmaking. In the session by Shoojit Sircar, he spoke about his experience filming in Gujarat with Khyati Nayak, Manager – Film Cell, Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd. “Gujarat is one of the few States in India which actually has a single window clearance for permissions to shoot”, he added.
Sircar also had another very interesting session titled; Shoojit Sircar – A Journey in Storytelling. Talking about his mentor & his journey, Shoojit said, “As a child when my father took me for the film, Pather Panchali, I slept through it. Now every time I’m low, I watch this film. Satyajit Ray has been my biggest inspiration and my journey began by watching & learning from his films.” He is a man of stories – the filmmaker who has a very strong sense of narrative. Talking about the same, he adds, “If your research is right, you will never go wrong.”
Filmmakers Anurag Basu, Sudhir Mishra & Theatre Artist – Vani Tripathi Tikoo covered a very interesting topic in the session – Female protagonists in Bollywood today – how real is the discourse? Talking about the reprisal of women – centric roles in Indian cinema, Sudhir Mishra said, “The kind of stardom that actresses like Nargisji, MeenaKumari, Sridevi & Madhuri Dixit have had, none of the new actresses have had. The problem with films & cinema today is parallel cinema is being ignored. It’s like people are saying that Shyam Benegal’s cinema, Shabana Azmi & Deepti Naval’s work did not exist. Women are objectified in our films. There are so many songs on female beauty but none on male beauty.”
Director Anurag Basu said that women centric films have always been around. “I feel that you make movies according to the kind of person you are. Shoojitn Sircar has made Piku, Vikas Bahl made Queen but Rohit Shetty does not make these kinds of movies. I have nothing against him, I’m just mentioning this. Women centric films have always been around because the ending of Queen is the same like that of Arth. The problem is that women filmmakers want to make masala blockbusters like men do. We need Juhi Chaturvedi and others like her to give us more characters and films like Piku,” says Anurag.
Television & theatre actress Vani Tripathi Tikoo said that portrayal of women in television is regressive. “I have worked on strong & memorable characters in shows directed by Anurag Basu. After that, there was a wave of shows directed by women, written by women, and even produced by women who were very regressive and seen by generations of women all over. Earlier in films, we had the vamp & the heroine. Today, we have anti – heroine characters but there’s a long way to go for liberalization”, says Vani.
In the Television in Digital India session, Gayatri Yadav, Executive Vice President, Marketing & Communications, STAR India spoke about the rise of Internet usage in India. The session gave a roadmap to people for the future of content making, delivery & consumption and how content makers must challenge the statusquo & push the envelope.
Satya Raghavan – Head of Content Operations YouTube India discussed Emergence of Content Destinations. Google & YouTube are one of the most prominent tools today at a filmmaker’s disposal for marketing a film, especially as they offer amazing monetizing solutions as well.
This year, the Investor’s Pitch consists of 3 pitching sessions that provides investors a platform to connect with film projects from different genres and in various stages of completion. The 3 Investor Pitches include; 19 Co – Production Market projects selected across genres with a special focus on South Asian stories from across the globe, 16 Screenwriters’ Lab scripts with a focus on Romance & Children’s stories. These projects have been mentored by national & international industry experts and 18 Film Bazaar Recommends projects from the Viewing Room & Work in Progress Lab. This is the first time the projects under the Screenwriters’ Lab had an opportunity to participate in the pitches.
There are 9 Film Offices set up at this year’s bazaar. The following have participated; Chhattisgarh Tourism, Madhya Pradesh Tourism, Gujarat Tourism, Maharashtra – Film City, West Bengal Tourism, Tamil Nadu Tourism, Daman & Diu Tourism, Puducherry Tourism & Incredible India.
NFDC India’s Managing Director, Nina Lath Gupta says, “It has been a great start to the bazaar this year. It has been our endeavour over the years to facilitate the ease of shooting films in India, with the launch of FFO, it will only get better. Change will not happen overnight but under the guidance of Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Ministry of Tourism, we will have tangible outcomes in the months forward.”
At the Film Bazaar 2015, the opening evening networking event on 20th Nov 2015 was organized by KeySmith.com; lunch on 21st Nov, 2015 was co – hosted by Madhya Pradesh Tourism & Gujarat Tourism. The evening networking event on 21st Nov, 2015 was organized by Incredible India.
Incidentally speaking Film Bazaar in its 9th edition is exclusively created to encourage collaboration between the international & South Asian film fraternities. The market aims at facilitating the sales of world cinema in the region. The 2014 market saw an attendance of 1042 delegates from 38 countries with country delegations from Canada, South Korea and Poland. Film Bazaar will be held from 20th Nov, 2015 – 24th Nov, 2015 at Goa Marriott Resort in Goa (India).
That apart incorporated in the year 1975 National Film Development Corporation Ltd is formed by Ministry of Information & broadcasting with the primary objective of promoting the good cinema movement. NFDC is instrumental for creating an ecosystem to support the financing, distribution & development of independent films across the country.