Paris-based documentary specialist CAT&Docs has acquired international rights to Vinay Shukla’s While We Watched, which is receiving its European premiere at International Documentary Festival Amstedam (IDFA), after winning prizes at Toronto and Busan.
CAT&Docs will represent the film in all territories excluding the UK, US, India and Qatar, which are handled by the filmmakers.
The documentary goes inside the newsroom of India’s NDTV — one of the country’s most trusted news channels — and follows veteran journalist Ravish Kumar, who is known for putting tough questions to those in power and has received death threats as a result. It examines how independent news reporting in India has been placed increasingly under threat by budgetary cuts and extremists leveraging alternative platforms to spread misinformation.
The film won the Amplify Voices Award at Toronto where it received its world premiere in September and picked up the Cinephile Award at Busan International Film Festival in October.
While We Watched is produced by the UK’s Britdoc Films, part of Doc Society, and Lono Studio.
It marks the second feature from Indian director Skukla, who previously made politically charged documentary An Insignificant Man, which also premiered at TIFF in 2016.
An Insignificant Man’s co-director Khushboo Ranka reunites with Shukla as producer on While We Watched, and UK-based Luke Moody is also a producer, having also been involved on An Insignificant Man.
“We want this film to reach a wide audience, not just in India, but on TV in other countries with parallel trajectories of journalism under attack,” said producer Moody. “Along with awards in Canada and Korea, signing with a leading European sales agent indicates that this story resonates globally.”
Executive producers are Britdoc’s Maxyne Franklin, Jess Search and Beadie Finzi. Further support was provided by the Sundance Institute, Doc Society and a grant from Doha Film Institute.
Catherine Le Clef, CEO of CAT&Docs, said: “We’re very curious to see the audience reactions as we strongly believe that While We Watched is a must see for anyone interested in how television journalism is under threat losing its independence and freedom and where extremists use alternative platforms to spread disinformation, not only in India but in countries such as Russia and the US, to name just a few.”
Further new titles on the sales company’s IDFA slate is Lea Grob’s Apolonia, Apolonia, which plays in competition; Coco Schrijber’s Look What You Made Me Do, screening in the Masters strand; and Siyi Chen’s Dear Mother, I Meant To Write About Death, playing in Luminous; as well as Inna Sahakyan’s Aurora’s Sunrise and Vida Dena’s My Paper Life, both in Best of Fests.
No comments yet