Film co-productions in focus for India at Cannes

Cannes, May 17 (IANS) The importance of co-productions in the business of filmmaking turned out to be a vital point of discussion at the India Pavilion during the ongoing 67th Cannes International Film Festival here.

On Friday, the second day of activities at the India Pavilion – organized by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in association with FICCI – at the Cannes Film Market 2014, started with structured business-to-business meetings between Indian and international delegates with the aim of allowing Indian participants at the gala to promote and facilitate their business goals.

During the course, two key announcements were made – the first India-New Zealand co-production, “Beyond the Known World”, is on the verge of being finalized and that an India-China audio-visual co-production agreement, which will be India’s tenth audio-visual co-production agreement with other countries, is in the offing, said a statement.

Bimal Julka, secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, delivered the keynote address before the ball for an interactive session on ‘Co-Production: Merging Resources to Create Magic’ rolled.

The session focussed on how co-production makes filmmaking viable and lucrative by providing access to public or subsidised funds to filmmakers and increases sales and chances of syndication in the international space.

According to Julka, co-production agreements not only enrich bilateral exchanges towards substantial cultural benefits but also bring in foreign exchange to a country’s exchequer and contribute to actual economic growth.

This session saw perspectives from Dave Gibson (CEO, New Zealand Film Commission), Carolle Brabant (executive director, Telefilm Canada), Franck Priot (deputy director, Film France), Nina Lath Gupta (managing director, National Film Development Corporation), Cindy Shyu (CEO, Light House Productions, China), Pierre Assouline (Owner, Only Films, Paris) and Westeast Films (Mumbai)

Weighing in on the creative concerns of co-produced filmmaking were Indian film veterans Kamal Haasan and Ramesh Sippy. The session was anchored by filmmaker Bobby Bedi.