The first edition of India’s Cinevesture Worldwide Movie Competition (CIFF) revealed 20 projects that will participate in the accompanying market.
Comprised of 17 features and three series, several of the projects are from creators who have gained acclaim internationally and in South Asia.
From Bangladeshi author Mostofa Sarwar Farooki (Busan title “One thing Like an Autobiography”) comes the unconventional Hindi and English romance “To Hell With Love.” Alankrita Srivasttava (Tokyo winner for “Lipstick Beneath My Burkha”) has the English and Hindi drama “Ladies of Orlem,” an adaptation of Lindsay Pereira’s best-selling novel “Gods and Ends.” Gurvinder Singh (Cannes title “The Fourth Course,” Venice pick “Alms for a Blind Horse”) is preparing the Hindi, Punjabi and English historical thriller sequel “The Judgment.”
“#JACK” is a thriller film by Bhaskar Hazarika (Tribeca selection “Aamis”), while “Chhaal” (“The Skin”) by Don Palathara (Rotterdam title “Household”) is a popular thriller adapted from a story by Vijayan Detha. Anurag Singh’s “Encounter” (the Jatt and Juliet franchise) is a dramatic thriller in Punjabi and Hindi languages and Atika Chohan’s drama “Husky” (SWSW title “Sahela”) is in Hindi, Chhattisgarhi and English languages.
“Peach No. 15” by Ayappa Okay.M. (Prime Video’s “Battle Room”) was conceived as a dark and humorous thriller series in Hindi and English languages, while the Hindi film “The Bookkeeper’s Spouse” is a drama by Bauddhayan Mukherji (Mumbai title “The Violin Player ”). The Hindi drama film “Sacred” is the debut of Deepa Bhatia, who made “Nero’s Visitors” at IDFA. “LalitA” in Hindi challenges concepts of genre and is the debut feature by Disha Rindani (Prime Video series “Cinema Marte Dum Tak”).
The Hindi-language drama thriller “Laali” is the fiction debut of Fahad Mustafa (Berlin and Tribeca title “Katiyabaaz”). Hindi and Punjabi drama “Dhundh Saleti” (“The Whispering Fog”) is the debut feature from Jasmine Kaur and Avinash Roy (“Saanjh”), while documentary-drama hybrid series “Schooled Overseas” from Kimsi Singh (producer of Venice titles “Milestone” and “Soni”) are in Hindi, English, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati and Telugu languages.
“Feral” by Nihaarika Negi (“Labors Of (An) Different Solipsist”) comes from the heightened horror genre and is in English and Kinnauri languages. “April Mein Shootout” is a Hindi thriller from Randeep Jha (“Netflix’s Kohrra”). The Hindi film “Tigdi, also known as 3-SUM”, described as an “unfeminine film” is the debut feature from Roopal Kewalya, who previously wrote the Netflix series “Tooth Pari”. “Miss Kumari”, in Hindi and Hinglish (a mix of English and Hindi), is by Sona Jain (“For Actual”) and is described as an extravagant romance.
“ITA”, by Vandana Kataria (“Noblemen”), is a sci-fi/horror retelling of Henry James’ “The Flip of the Screw”, while “19”, in Hindi, Telugu and English, is a drama about majority. by Vikas Chandra (showrunner of Prime Video’s Berlinale series pick, “Dahaad”).
Along with these, there are three mentoring tasks. The Hindi drama “Representatives”, by Priyankar Patra (producer of the Venice selection “O Once Upon a Time in Calcutta”), is produced by Venice winner Aditya Vikram Sengupta (“Labour of Love”). The Hindi short drama film “Chanda” is by Shivika Jain, who worked on the Tallinn winner “Amar Colony”. The Konkani-language “The Premature Death of Leanne’s Canine” by Suyash Kamat (fast Netflix-backed “Sadabahar”) belongs to the coming-of-age/slice-of-life/comedy style.
The competition and market takes place in Chandigarh, Punjab, North India, from March 27th to 31st. The market seeks to create links between investors and curatorial projects, which will also be launched for exhibitors and distributors. Each is being organized by Cinvesture Pvt. Ltd.
Nina Lath, who previously ran Movie Bazaar, South Asia’s largest co-production marketplace, from 2006 to 2018, is the company’s founder and CEO.
The competition is supported by Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh, Chandigarh Tourism Division and Chandigarh Administration. VS Kundu, former head of India’s National Film Division, is the director of the film competition and trade veteran Bina Paul is the creative director.
Former Cannes film director Jerome Paillard, Indian actor and producer Rana Daggubati (“Baahubali”) and Nicole Guillemet, who was co-director of the Sundance Film Festival, and Indian filmmaker Ajitpal Singh (Sundance title “Home in the Mountains”) are on the advisory board.
Namrata Joshi, market curator at CIFF said, “To borrow a popular phrase, our pick is fun, fearless, feminine and complete in Punjab. We now have tasks in numerous stages of growth. From those requiring funding for analysis and script development to those with scripts locked and able to run. The vast majority of tasks are done by women. And/or focused on women. Many of them are from Punjabi cinematic experience and/or set in the state hosting the competition and market. Class divisions and conflicts, a sad modern reality, are a theme of work in several of the chosen projects. Points of queer identification also find space.
“The choice spans genres – there’s action, thriller (corporate, police procedural), drama (human, social, political, coming of age), a folkloric and mythology-based story but with a modern twist, epic narrative spanning decades, whimsical romance and comedy too. Horror is present in the choice. This is also imagined and created by women. With deep underlying thematic layers.”