13th Edition of NFDC Film Bazaar Declared Open by Hon. Minister Shri Prakash Javadeka

Shri Prakash Javadekar, Hon. Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, and Minister of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, declared the 13th edition of NFDC's Film Bazaar, open in the presence of luminaries including Shri Pramod Sawant (Hon. CM of Goa), Shri Babul Supriyo (Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change), Shri Prasoon Joshi (Chairman - CBFC), Shri Amit Khare (Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, GoI), Shri Atul Tiwari (Additional Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, GoI) and Smt. T.C.A. Kalyani (MD of NFDC India).

Smt. T.C.A. Kalyani opened the proceedings for the evening by inviting Hon. Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar and present luminaries to light the ceremonial lamp.

Welcoming the film fraternity to NFDC's Film Bazaar, Shri Pramod Sawant, Hon. CM of Goa, promised infrastructural support to filmmakers in Goa. Shri Pramod Sawant, "In line with our Hon. PM's vision to make things easy for business, we are launching single window clearance for films which will give a boost to the film industry".

Hon. Minister, Shri Prakash Javadekar, spoke about the importance of the film industry to the country. "Indian films are the soft power of our country and Film Bazaar will ensure that our films get a proper exposure and market internationally." Alluding to the growing importance of Film Bazaar, he highlighted, "This year even before the Film Bazaar has started, there are already more than 1,000 registrations including writers, directors, distributors and other industry participants, from places as far as Argentina."

Adding to Hon. Minister's point, Shri Babul Supriyo, Hon. Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, said, "Film Bazaar is an excellent platform for the film fraternity. It is profitable and encouraging for all. I believe it will also encourage the 'Digital India' dream of our Hon. Prime Minister."

The occasion also saw the launch of a promotional film on NFDC's Film Facilitation Office by Hon. Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar in front of the packed room of industry participants. The film highlighted the breadth of international films shot in India as well as the new initiative of single window clearance.

The 13th Edition of Film Bazaar will be held from 20-24 November 2019 at the Marriott Resort in Goa, India.

Celebrating its 13th edition this year, the annual NFDC's Film Bazaar has become a beacon of hope for budding filmmakers of South Asia. The platform has evolved into a one-stop shop for filmmakers, producers, sales agents, distributors, film festival programmers and financiers from around the world; a marketplace that encourages collaboration between the South Asian and international film fraternities

The Knowledge Series is a series of specially curated presentations, panel discussions and lectures by filmmakers, producers, top executives of film organizations involved in content production, aggregation and distribution.

Joshi and Siddharth Roy Kapur will be seen discussing ways to empower the youth with skill development in one of the panels, while Vani Tripathi Tikoo will be in discussion with Shobu Yarlagadda (Producer of 'Baahubali') and Vishal Bhardwaj on cinema inspiring entrepreneurs. Another engaging panel will have Soundarya Rajinikanth and Nandita Roy amongst others discussing the changing role of women in Indian cinema, while film critic Anupama Chopra will be seen engaging Josh Seigel, Curator, Dept of Film MOMA (The Museum of Modern Art), New York in a conversation. Others industry participants on the various panels include actor Sanjay Suri, cinematographers Shanker Raman and Tapan Basu, screenwriters Atika Chohan, Kanika Dhillon, and filmmaker Sharat Katariya.

New additions at Film Bazaar this year include a separate segment titled "Behind the Silver Screen, Empowering the Aspirants" focused on skill development for students. This segment will have a series of workshops by industry veterans such as Actor Adil Hussain, Filmmaker Meghna Gulzar, CBFC Chairman Prasoon Joshi, Vani Tripathi Tikoo, Puneet Krishna, Rajiv Krishna Menon, Subhash Ghai, Shylaja Chetlur.

Also for the first time WIP lab projects will get a chance to pitch their films to potential investors, producers, sales agents, distributors, festival programmers in an Open Pitching session at the venue.

Another addition is the Producers' Workshop, which is remodeled this year into an adaptive space for producing professionals in early stages of their careers. This year 20 projects from USA, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Taiwan and India have been selected to participate in the workshop.

The Co-production Market is a platform for filmmakers of a few curated projects to pitch their films to a selected audience of industry professionals including national and international producers, distributors, sales agents and financiers. This year's selection presents 14 projects from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, France, Nepal, Singapore and USA across languages like Hindi, English, Bengali, Malayalam, Assamese, Nepali, Dzongkha (Bhutanese) and Gujarati from established filmmakers as well as new talent. Out of 14 films selected in CPM, 3 are by female filmmakers.

The Work-in-Progress Lab includes five films who will get too screen their rough cuts to the panel of mentors and receive an in-depth one-on-one feedback. The mentors of this year's WIP Lab are Philippa Campbell, Derek Malcolm, Olivia Stewart, Marco Muller, Jacques Comets, Lizi Gelber. The five projects selected in WIP lab this year include four debut films (Pedro, Swizerland, Uljhan, Shankar's Fairies), one of which is by a female filmmaker (Shankar's Fairies). Films are in three Indian languages - three in Hindi, one in Kannada and one in Gojri.

The Viewing Room is designed to present films seeking finishing funds, world sales, distribution partners and film festivals to film programmers, distributors, world sales agents and investors. Those interested can view the film on individual computer screens in segregated booths. This year 213 films will be available to view in the Viewing Room Library of which 154 are feature films and 59 are short films. 89 out of 213 films submitted are debut features. The films are in more than 30 languages including languages like Maithili, Sinhala, Galo, Gojri, Bodo, Gondi/Muria.

Film Bazaar Recommends 26 feature films to watch out for from out of the 213 films submitted in Viewing Room. The filmmakers of these films get to show their trailers and pitch to investors. Out of 26 FBR films, 16 are debut features and 4 are by women filmmakers.

Industry Screenings of a total of 36 films is scheduled at Film Bazaar this year. These films are in 11 Languages - Hindi, English, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Odia, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Marathi, Konkani, Gujarat. There are 5 International Films, 29 Feature Films, 5 Short Films, 2 Documentaries, 2 Animated films, 19 Debut Directors. Out of 26 Film Bazaar Recommends films, 4 are from industry screenings

Film Offices of 12 Indian states are participating in Film Bazaar this year. These are, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka. A workshop on creating an effective 'Single Window' ecosystem will be held at Film Bazaar with sessions by Jess Conoplia (President, Association of Film Commissioners International) and T.C.A. Kalyani (Managing Director, NFDC) amongst others.

Film Bazaar is a platform exclusively created to encourage collaboration between the international and South Asian film fraternities. The market aims at facilitating sales for world cinema in the region. With every passing year Film Bazaar has grown bigger and 2018 saw more than 850 delegates attend the 4 day event. The 13th Edition of Film Bazaar will be held from 20th-24th November 2019 at the Marriott Resort in Goa, India.

Incorporated in the year 1975 National Film Development Corporation Ltd is formed by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (GoI) with the primary objective of promoting the good cinema movement. NFDC is instrumental in creating an ecosystem to support the financing, distribution and the development of independent films across the country.

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