The ‘Work in Progress’ lab gives an opportunity to film-makers to present their projects in a rough cut stage to a panel of international film experts for their feedback. For the first time at the NFDC Film Bazaar, there will be two Work-in-Progress (WIP) Labs: WIP Fiction and WIP Documentary. The newly introduced WIP Documentary Lab will only consider creative feature length documentaries in the rough cut stage aimed at a theatrical release, while the WIP Fiction lab is open to feature length films. The Work in Progress lab will also invite editors of the projects for them to take note of suggestions from the mentors.
Projects under the WIP Fiction lab include:
1) ‘Highway’ by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni: English, Hindi and Marathi
2) ‘Nil Battey Sannata’ (Good for Nothing) by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari: Hindi
3) ‘Thithi’ (11th Day) by Raam Reddy: Kannada
4) ‘Bokul’ by Reema Borah: Assamese
5) ‘Tathagat’ by Manav Kaul: Hindi
Projects under WIP Documentary lab include:
1) ‘12 Acres’ by Rajesh Thind: English and Punjabi
2) ‘Waiting for Herzog’ by Shaan Khattau: English, Hindi and Gujarati
3) ‘Proposition for a Revolution’ by Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla: English and Hindi
4) ‘Maidaan’ (Home Ground) by Kavita Carneiro: Bengali, Dari, English, Hindi, Pashto, Santhali
5) ‘Nehi Mozo Hanü Dizo Le’ (Without you, I am Nothing) by Anushka Meenakshi and Iswar Srikumar: Chokri, English, Nagamese
The mentors for Work in Progress Fiction are Marco Müller, previously director of the Venice International Film Festival from 2004 to 2011 and now director of the Rome Film Festival since 2012, he is also a director and writer of documentaries, film critic and historian; Philippa Campbell, producer of features, shorts, and documentary films, known for Rain, No.2 and Black Sheep; Sunmin Park, producer, known for The Others (2001), Sky Blue (2003) and The Emperor and the Assassin (1998) and Francesca Calvelli,editor and actress, known for No Man’s Land (2001), Vincere (2009) and Good Morning, Night (2003); Gabor Greiner, Acquisitions, Films Boutique, a Berlin-based international sales company with a limited and focused catalog of high profile feature art house films searching for long-lasting relationships with directors and producers.
The mentors for Work in Progress – Documentary Lab are Claudia Tronnier, producer and editor; Noemi Schory, producer, director and writer, known for A Film Unfinished; Iikka Vehkalahti, producer, director and writer; Per K. Kirkegaard, known as the editor of Armadillo, TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away from Keyboard (2013), Stealing Rembrandt (2003), Accused (2005); Derek Malcom, a distinguished film critic and historian, the author of Century of Films, which includes his favorite films from around the world. Mr. Malcolm is also the President of British Federation of Film Societies and the International Film Critics Circle.
Since the inception of the Work-in-Progress lab, most of the films that have been through this lab have premiered at leading international films festivals while some have enjoyed a successful theatrical run. These include Kanu Behl’s Titli (Cannes Film Festival 2014), Shonali Bose’s Margarita, With A Straw (Toronto International Film Festival 2014) Avinash Arun’s Killa (Berlinale 2014), Ashim Ahluwalia’s Miss Lovely (Cannes Film Festival 2012), Anand Gandhi’s Ship of Theseus (Toronto International Film Festival, 201–), Sange Dorjee Thangdok’s Crossing Bridges, Gyan Correa’s The Good Road and Ajay Bahl’s BA Pass and more.
Nina Lath Gupta, Managing Director, NFDC India says, “As in previous editions of Film Bazaar, the Work in Progress Lab hopes to be successful this year as well in an effort to promote and showcase the diversity and talent of the Cinemas of India at a global stage. The WIP lab will showcase projects that are thought-provoking and diverse trending topics discussed and debated by industry experts, both locally and abroad.”
The other sections at Film bazaar include the Co-Production Market with 32 potential projects relating to South Asian stories available for Co-production; Screenwriters’ Lab with six original scripts mentored by international mentors ready to get into production; the NFDC Knowledge Series where renowned film industry experts discuss current trends, skills and techniques in the global film scenario. For the Industry Screenings section, Film Bazaar is equipped with three digital theatres to enable trade screenings of films for investors, buyers and festival programmers. The Exhibition Stands at the market venue showcase products and facilitate interaction with other delegates. At the Producers’ Lab, a section introduced in Film Bazaar 2013, the focus is on honing the skill sets of Indian Producers to help them collaborate with their international counterparts.
In another newly introduced segment, Film Offices, State/Country tourism boards and Country Film Commissions will have dedicated offices at Film Bazaar to allow them to introduce and pitch their locations to attending delegates of the film fraternity. The Investor Pitch is an event that entails two sessions, one on pitching scripts in the romance genre and another for pitching films looking for completion funds. The first-ever Romance Screenwriters’ Lab will focus on developing scripts based on romance and women-centric plots.