Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Youth Affairs & Sports, Anurag Singh Thakur while inaugurating the Film Bazar the largest South Asian film market at Marriott Resort, Goa today said that the film bazaar, much like a bustling marketplace of ideas, is a haven for filmmakers, producers, and storytellers from all corners of the globe. It’s a confluence of creativity and commerce, ideas and inspirations that form the building blocks of this thriving cinematic marketplace, he added.
On the occasion, Anurag Singh Thakur said that Indian media & entertainment industry, with an annual growth rate of 20%, is hailed as the fifth-largest and most globalized industry in the world. In its 17th year, the Film Bazaar has become an indispensable cornerstone of the IFFI, transcending borders and evolving into one of Asia’s biggest film markets, the minister added.
Union Minister informed that this year, the selection of films for the Film Bazaar reflects a diverse mix of fiction, docu-shorts, documentaries, horror films, and even an animated film that deals with universal themes relating to the diaspora, patriarchy, urban angst, extreme poverty, climate crisis, nationalism, sports and fitness.
Speaking of the co-production market, the Minister said “We proudly present twelve documentaries from 7 countries in the Coproduction Market, exploring life in 17 different languages. It’s a journey into the heart of reality through the lens of filmmakers.”
He also said that the video library platform, the Viewing Room, shows 190 submissions, a few submissions from which will be selected for the Film Bazaar Recommends (FBR). “The Work-in-Progress Lab is where filmmakers show the raw beauty of their work. Doubling the project count from last year, we have 10 projects ready to unveil this year,” the Minister said.
Thakur also announced that as a nod to innovation and in line with the Prime Minister’s call for ease of doing business, an exciting new component, “Book to Box Office,” has been added which will showcase 59 submissions seamlessly making the jump from books to screens. In the sidelines of the event, the Minister also inaugurated Google Arts and Culture Hindi exhibit which is an online hub having images and short videos from Hindi films.
The 10 recommended films from a variety of genres to be showcased in Film Bazaar at IFFI 54TH including documentary, horror, climate crisis, fiction etc. The films are in English, Hindi, Bengali, Marwari, Kannada, and Maori (New Zealand language). This year, the Film Bazaar has a newly curated “VFX & Tech Pavilion” which intends to make the filmmakers aware of the latest innovations, to explore the possibilities of storytelling by not just the traditional way of “taking the shot”, but also “creating the shot”.
The Film Bazaar showcases the official selection of the feature-length projects of the Co-Production Market from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, USA, UK, Singapore, Germany, France, Poland, Luxembourg and Israel. The selected filmmakers will be pitching their projects to International and Indian producers, distributors, festival programmers, financiers, and sales agents at the open Pitch.
Initiated by National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), Film Bazaar has evolved into South Asia’s largest film market, connecting local film makers to the global producers and distributors.
