Master Class, Film Bazaar and more

IIFI to present a string of movies from SAARC nations, and has something for every filmmaker.

The International Film Festival Of India (IFFI) flags off from November 22 in Goa and ends on December 2. The industry folks are looking forward to it because of the Film Bazaar, which, in its fourth year, has participation from the SAARC (South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation) nations.

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Nina L Gupta, managing director of NFDC (National Film Development Corporation), which is the central agency to host the four-day Film Bazaar from November 23, says that in the first three years, the productions had only Indian markets in mind.

Just arrived

“For the first time, we have films like

Under The Red Line

(Afghanistan),

Vara / The Boon

(Bhutan),

Goodbye Kathmandu

(Nepal),

Untitled

(Pakistan),

Karma

(Sri Lanka) and

Tune of Silence

(Bangladesh) from SAARC nations,” she adds. The forum at the Film Bazaar will also have directors and representatives of various festivals like Cannes, Venice, Sundance, Locarno, Durban, Chicago and IFFLA interact with the patrons.

Another new feature at this year’s IFFI is the industry screenings for potential producers, distributors, buyers, agents and directors of international film festivals. Gupta says this stemmed from the necessity to see the films before deals are struck.

Class apart

“We’ve collaborated with UFO Moviez to set up theatres to screen films specifically for this business aspect,” she says, adding, that they have also lined up a series of lectures and panel discussions on various aspects of movie production and positioning. There will also be a Master Class, hosted by German filmmaker Fatih Akin who will delve into various aspects of filmmaking. Dibakar Bannerjee will participate in the co-production market with his film

Shanghai.

Vivek Agnihotri will be making his presence felt with

Himmat Singh Ki Symphony

, produced by his wife Pallavi Joshi.

Feedback time

Actor Parvin Dabas, who’s venturing into production and direction with

Sahi Dhande Galat Bande

, will present his film at the Work In Progress Lab where rough cuts of films are presented for feedback from established names in the business. “Aijaz Khan’s

The White Elephant

, Satish Manwar’s

Ghabricha Paus

, Bityut Kotoky’s

As The River Flows

and Sidharth Srinivasan’s

Pairon Tale

have been part of this section earlier,” recalls Gupta. Rajesh Pinjani’s

Baboo Band Baaja

, Swapnik Jaykar’s

Tendulkar Out

and VK Prakash’s

Karmayogi

too will be presented in this section this year.