Movies today are produced locally and consumed truly globally and it is time our producers turn to co-production and make global movies, N. Vidyashankar, Artistic Director, Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes), said.
According to Mr. Vidyashankar, film producers in India are missing international access as of now, and probably the industry should develop a platform to build a connection to the global production scenario. “Although the intent to go truly global is certainly there, a compelling need is missing because Indian movies have enough audience now at home and in the diasporas outside,’‘ he observed.
BIFFes, set to kick-start from February 29, will have deliberations on various topics including on the prospects of co-production for Indian producers, with Cary Rajinder Sawhney, Director, London Indian Film Festival, participating in it.
Matter of time
Industry observers concur that India is now ready for co-production engagements and it is for the filmmakers in the country to decide when to foray into it.
The county has already introduced mechanisms to facilitate cross-country collaborations in content creation and filmmaking. For instance, India has audio/visual co-production treaties with 16 countries including Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland and Australia.
Brien Ghose, MD, Asia Pacific, Technicolor Creative Studios, Global Excom Member, said in addition to the co-production treaty, any Indian movie co-produced between an Indian producer and a producer/s from other countries will get a 30% cash incentive from the National Film Development Corporation of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Beyond just locations
“Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Punjabi movies are frequently exploring foreign locations for shooting. Getting into co-production engagements will be a logical extension and will not be very tough for lead Indian producers,’‘ opined Mr. Ghose, adding that it will improve with establishing the right connections and interacting with global producers at the Cannes Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Festival and so on.
Ashish Kulkarni, Chairman, FICCI for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics Forum said, “For the first time, the country has a fund for film co-production set up by the Film Facilitation Office of Invest India.” The coproduction trend is very strong in Europe, Canada, Australia and Japan. For instance, Canada, France, and the UK are the countries with a large number of co-production treaties, pointed out Mr. Kulkarni.
