Six scripts go to Venice

The National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) is going bigger with a bang. Its Film Bazaar (FB) promoted six filmmakers — Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee, Anusha Rizvi, Laxmikant Shetgaonkar, Sekhar Kammula and Haobam Paban Kumar — at Cannes 2011.

The National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) is going bigger with a bang. Its Film Bazaar (FB) promoted six filmmakers — Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee, Anusha Rizvi, Laxmikant Shetgaonkar, Sekhar Kammula and Haobam Paban Kumar — at Cannes 2011. Now, the scripts of six scriptwriters will be promoted at the Venice International Film Festival (VIFF).

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“Yes, scripts of Toxic City (Aliya Curmally), Girls (Megha Ramaswamy), Dabba (Ritesh Batra), Sebastian Wants to Remember (Vasant Nath), Dear Mira (Deepti Datt), and Dum Laga Ke Haisha (Sharat Katariya) will be promoted,” confirms Nina Lath Gupta, managing director, NFDC.

FB has served as a platform for various acclaimed films like I Am Kalam, That Girl In Yellow Boots and LSD in recent years. And as they gear up for their fifth year at International Film Festival of India, Goa, NFDC proposes to set up digital theatres this time.

“There will also be an initiative to introduce unseen Indian films through market presentations,” says Gupta. FB has also come up with two distinct segments — the Co-production Market and Work in Progress Lab under which filmmakers can send their entries. And the filmmakers are happy with FB too. “We participated in the Work in Progress section where a few world-renown-ed film critics/makers/writers watch your work and help you improve it without changing the vision. It’s a positive exercise,” says actor and producer Suri. Onir, on his part, feels that FB “may have a ‘travelling shop concept’ where a few projects are picked up and presented at various other international venues.”