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His controversial yet acclaimed film Gandu travelled the festival circuit and won several awards but never had a theatrical release

Filmmaker Qaushiq Mukherjee to distribute Indian independent and world cinema on the internet

His controversial yet acclaimed film Gandu travelled the festival circuit and won several awards but never had a theatrical release. In fact,within India,the Bengali adult film has had even fewer avenues for exhibition. This experience,combined with the fact that he struggles even today for access to world cinema of his choice,prompted filmmaker Qaushiq Mukherjee,aka Q,to work out an initiative that will distribute movies such as his to the Indian audience.

The filmmaker has partnered with PocketFilms,a portal that showcases short and documentary films online,to distribute feature-length independent and world cinema. The real audience for new cinema is the youth. To reach out to them,one has to make content available on a platform of their choice. Besides,theatrical distribution is always too expensive for independent filmmakers,whereas the online platform proves affordable,says Q.

As part of the new initiative,titled PocketOverdose,Q is currently finalising the films he would like to curate. The films,he says,will be the kind he likes to watch but will never have a release in India. The negotiations with international distributors are being worked out on profit-sharing basis. It will be available to the audience on the video-on-demand platform where the user will need to pay a minimal cost under Rs 100 to keep it affordable, he explains. More details on the state of films and when the project will go live,will be finalised in a months time,adds Q.

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