Co-productions set up at Goa’s Film Bazaar are now gracing leading international festivals. Liz Shackleton reports

Film Bazaar, which takes place in Goa from November 24-27, has become the major interface between the international film industry and India’s independent film-makers.

Previous projects include Amit Kumar’s The Monsoon Shootout, recently set up as a co-production between the UK’s Yaffle Films, India’s Anurag Kashyap Films, Pardesi Films from the Netherlands and Arte France. Anurag Kashyap’s That Girl In Yellow Boots, which screened at Venice last year, and Dibakar Banerjee’s upcoming political thriller Shanghai were both co-produced by Film Bazaar organiser, the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), after taking part in the event.

The winner of the Hubert Bals award at last year’s Film Bazaar, Umesh Kulkarni’s The Temple, about a group of villagers hoping to profit from a divine vision in their village, recently premiered at the Busan International Film Festival.

The event showcases projects in four sections: the co-production market, with around 18 projects from India and other South Asian nations; the Work-in-Progress Lab; Screenwriters’ Lab; and the Primexchange workshop for projects aiming for Indo-European co-production. Screenwriters’ Lab, co-organised by Amsterdam-based Binger Filmlab, partners this year with the Venice festival.

Last year, the event introduced two new features: industry screenings and a marketplace with stalls for exhibitors. Both will be expanded this year — the industry screenings in partnership with Chennai-based digital cinema provider Real Image.

This year, Film Bazaar will also introduce a digital screening room to show the latest Indian product. The digital library includes films screening at the International Film Festival of India (November 23-December 3) along with films selected by Film Bazaar, entitled Market Recommendations. The latter section includes highly anticipated titles such as Anand Gandhi’s The Ship Of Theseus, documentary The Rat Race by Miriam Chandy Menacherry, and feature Ballad Of Rustom by Ajita Suchitra Veera. Visitors will be able to leave comments, request further screeners, and contact rights holders and sales agents.

The event will also feature two new awards this year: India’s Prasad Studios will hand out an award to the best co-production or Work-in-Progress project, while the Ministry of Tourism will hand out a $20,000 Incredible India award to the best co-production project.

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