Indian gov't adds muscle to advertise domestic photos

GOA -- The Nation's Film Development Corp.'s annual market, the Film Bazaar (November. 24-27), is distributing its wings. This season, 23 South Asian-designed co-productions from 12 nations are searching to draw in financing in the market. Included in this are "No Man's Land" director Danis Tanovic's "Tiger" (France) Roberto San Pirtro's "The Vegetarian" (Italia) Prakash Belawadi's "The Pollutant" (Sweden) Alka Raghuram's "Burqa Boxers" (U.S.) and Sangeeta Datta's "Stranger Over the Ocean" (U.K.). Indian projects include Dibakar Banerjee's "The Boy and also the Bandit" veteran Ketan Mehta's "Noor -- The Princess Spy" and Sopan Muller's "Free Fall," which Oscar-winning seem designer Resul Pookutty ("Slumdog Uniform") is really a producer. "Worldwide co-productions offer not just co-funding but additionally simpler use of distribution and exhibition avenues abroad and upkeep of production and technical standards of the worldwide acceptable quality. It remains a goal with NFDC to facilitate growth in this region having a view to improving the worldwide audience base of Indian cinema (and) revenue generation from multiple areas," stated NFDC controlling director Nina Lath Gupta. Gupta sees that the road to global recognition is tough. "We face several challenges, one of these being the necessity to work out how we are able to increase film exports. Another key challenge is the necessity to leverage India like a shooting destination and therefore also growing tourism," she stated. To be able to surmount these challenges, the NFDC has integrated using the Indian tourism ministry's Incredible India campaign to improve local cinema's visibility abroad. Promotions started at Cannes this season and ongoing at Toronto and also the AFM, with efforts in the Berlin and Hong Kong fests due in 2012. The ministry will even award $20,000 towards the best project within the co-production market. Meanwhile, the Film Bazaar keeps growing, with 500 associates attending this season from 40 nations, up 11% from 2010, and 40 industry tests, up 13% from 2010. Film Bazaar also offers several worldwide close ties. You will find six projects within the Screenwriters' Lab, made to encourage screenwriters with original Indian tales, together with the Binger Filmlab (Netherlands), Venice and Cinecitta Luce. The job-in-progress lab might find filmmakers screening rough cuts of the photos to worldwide sales people, experts and film funds to be able to obtain input. The lengthy-looked forward to development of a movie commission for that country is anticipated soon. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com