Nair, who picked up Cannes' Camera d'Or award in 1999 for Throne Of Death, will present Hindi-Chinese drama Simply Love to potential investors and partners later this month (see details below). Karun, who was awarded with a Camera d'Or - Special Mention for The Birth (Piravi) in 1988, has Malayalam and Hindi-language drama Legend at the market.
Kashyap, whose credits include acclaimed documentary Black Friday and drama No Smoking which premiered at the Rome film festival last year, will present suspense thriller Happy Ending, about the culmination of a girl's life-long search for her father.
Other cutting edge filmmakers to have projects selected for the market include Ashim Ahluwalia (John & Jane) and Rajan Khosa (Dance Of The Wind). In addition, UK director Michael Anderson will present an adaptation of Indra Sinha's Booker Prize-nominated novel Animal's People.
Organised by India's National Film Development Corp (NFDC) and held at the same time as the International Film Festival of India in Goa (Nov 22-Dec 2), Film Bazaar aims to encourage the diverse cinemas of India through international co-production and collaboration.
A total of 12 feature films have been selected along with ten documentary projects, tackling subjects such as environmental issues, the choices facing young Indians and the winners and losers of global trade practices (see below).
In addition to the NFDC-selected projects, the European Producers Club is also bringing a slate of India-centric projects that are looking for partners in India. These include an adaptation of Vikas Swarups' novel Six Suspects, to be produced by Paul Raphael, and producer Leslee Udwin's sequel to East Is East, entitled West Is West.
Indian Panorama features and non-feature films that are being showcased by this year's IFFI are also being promoted at the market.
Other features of Film Bazaar include a Work-In-Progress Workshop; a Screenwriters Lab, held in association with Amsterdam-based Binger Filmlab; a series of seminars co-hosted by Screen International, and a master class held by eminent Indian filmmaker Shyam Benegal.
Screenwriters Lab mentors include Philippa Campbell, Sooni Taraporevala, Franz Rodenkirchen and Udayan Prasad. Advisors for the Work-In-Progress workshop include Arclight Films' Gary Hamilton, critic Derek Malcolm and editor Molly Stensgaard (Dancer In The Dark).
Other international guests set to attend the market include Fortissimo Films' Michael Werner, Distant Horizon's Anant Singh and the UK Film Council's Emma Clarke. In addition, former Cinemart director Ido Abram is acting as a consultant to this year's Film Bazaar.
FILM BAZAAR FEATURE PROJECTS
1. Animal's People
Dir/prod: Michael Anderson
Prod co: Quadrapedal Films
Language: English
Synopsis: Derived from the Booker Prize-nominated novel by Indra Sinha about a boy living with the consequences of an explosion in a chemical factory.
2. Bandra Fair
Director: Judith Varma
Producer: Sudhir Mishra
Production Company: Cineraas Entertainment
Language: English
Synopsis: A former Catholic priest returns home from to Mumbai to break the news to his mother that not only has he left the priesthood, but is married with two daughters.
3. A Different Childhood
Director: Brahmanand Singh
Producers: Joy Sengupta / Rajesh Pavithran
Production Company: Born Free Cine Paradise
Language: Hindi
Synopsis: Drama exploring the issues surrounding, and possible solutions to, the global problem of child labour.
4. Happy Ending
Dir/prod: Anurag Kashyap
Production Company: Anurag Kashyap Productions
Language: English / Hindi / French
Synopsis: Suspenseful thriller that plays out over four days in Mumbai and narrates the culmination of a girl's life-long search for her father.
5. Hero
Dir/prod: Mangesh Joshi
Production Company: Pravah Nirmitee
Language: Hindi
Synopsis: A young shoe-shine boy cannot believe his luck when he is chosen to be the hero of a film. But when time passes and nothing is heard of the project, he starts to search for the filmmakers.
6. The Breakers
Director: Rajan Khosa
Producer: Rajan Khosa
Production Company: Elephant Eye
7. Miss Lovely
Director: Ashim Ahluwalia
Producers: Shumona Goel & Ashim Ahluwalia
Production Company: Future East
Language: Hindi
Synopsis: Drama revolving around two brothers who produce sleazy C-grade films, and the innocent, baby-faced beauty who mysteriously appears in their lives.
8. Most Wanted
Director: Manu Gautam
Producer: Ashutosh Deshmukh
Production Company: Freeze Frame
Language: Hindi
Synopsis: The tables are turned against the flashy anchor of a sensational live TV show that brings to the public the country's worst criminals for them to condemn.
9. Samuel Karthikeya
Director: Prakash Kovelamudi
Producer: Prakash Kovelamudi & Suresh Babu
Production Company: A Bellyful of Dreams & Suresh Productions
Language: Tamil / Hindi
Synopsis: A Christian boy of Hindu birth develops an angry alter-ego, named Karthikeya, which seeks justice in the night.
10. Simply Love
Director: Murali Nair
Producer: Elliot Tong
Production Company: Foxy Brown Entertainment
Language: Hindi / Chinese
Synopsis: A software engineer realises his dreams and secures a job in Hong Kong, but his happiness is complicated by the fact that he is engaged to marry a girl in India.
11. Legend
Dir/prod: Shaji Karun
Language: Malayalam & Hindi
Synopsis: A young woman's studies are interrupted when she is brought home by her father at the behest of her mother whom she hasn't seen for 16 years.
12. This Is Not A Love Story
Director: Anahata Menon
Producer: Dushyant Singh
Production Company: Back 2 Back Entertainment & Mesmer
Language: Hindi
Synopsis: Drama following the real-life experiences of a young Indian man who undergoes a sex change.
DOCUMENTARY PROJECTS:
1. Breaking Into Bollywood
Director: Adam Dow
Producer: Ruchika Muchhala
Production Company: Thirdkulture Films
2. Desperate In The Desert
Director: Geeta Singh
Producer: Avinash Kumar Singh
Production Company: I Stylus
3. The Disappearing World: Bees In A Crisis
Director: Mike Pandey
Producer: Gautam Pandey & Arjun Pandey
Production Company: Riverbank Studios
4. Fifty Years Apart: Tales From Sarbatwalla Chowk
Director: Kaevan Umrigar
Producer: Kaevan Umrigar & Vinoo Krishnan
Production Company: Floating Weeds
5. Gang Of Seven
Director: Nitin K
Producer: Nitin K
Production Company: Dissolve Studio
6. The Glacial Tragedy
Director: Pramod Mathur
Producer: Neelima Mathur
Production Company: Spotfilms
7. Killer Punch
Director: Sudhesh Unniraman
Producer: Iqbal Malhotra
Production Company: AIM Television Pvt. Ltd
8. Mad About IIT - JEE
Director: Preeti Mankar
Producer: Preeti Mankar & Suri Gopalan
Production Company: 517 Productions & 1947 Films
9. Of Many Lives
Director: Bidyut Kotoky
Producer: Bidyut Kotoky
Production Company: Dhruv Creative Production
10. Travels Of My T-shirt
Director: Ranjan Kamath
Producer: Ranjan Kamath
Production Company: RKO Moving Media Pvt. Ltd
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