IFFI bazaar records zero collections

If the idea to set up a Bazaar at the International Film Festival of India IFFI was to buy and sell films, then it remained a bazaar just ...

If the idea to set up a Bazaar at the International Film Festival of India IFFI was to buy and sell films, then it remained a bazaar just in name with 24 shops closing down on Friday without transacting any business.

And if last year the Chinese went back on their promise of buying 100 Indian films, this year a delegation from Uzbekistan quoted too low for acquiring films, says Nandkumar Bele of the Indian Film Exporters Association.

Manmohan Shetty, who will be be taking over as National Film Development Council chairman and heads film processing firm Adlabs, says for the Bazaar to be successful the buyers have to be identified first and wooed to ensure their participation. 8216;8216;A plan has to be put in place before talking shop,8217;8217; says Shetty.

It is because of the dismal showing that the NFDC has hit upon the idea of a Golden Quadrangle project where South Africa, Seychelles, Mauritius and the Reunion Islands will be especially targeted for selling and distributing Indian films. In fact, after signing an MoU with Mauritius, the two countries are to assist each other in co-production and distribution. Mauritius has also hit upon the idea of holding an annual Indian film festival. Early on in January, there will be a Satyajit Ray film festival and a Children8217;s Film Festival. The country has already experimented with director Mani Ratnam.

Also being planned are a children8217;s film festival and a Bhojpuri film festival, says Madhukar Narrain from Bihar. 8216;8216;Bhojpuri music is so popular that we have decided to acquire some films from Bihar,8217;8217; says Narrain who will be heading to Bihar to get firsthand knowledge on the film industry there.

Business aside, the Directorate of Film Festival is finding it tough to acquire films for a price. With a budgetary allowance of Rs 1.60 crore, acquiring films for an international film festival can be quite an arduous task, specially when IFFI is not even a blip on the international circuit.

Clearly, the most expensive acquisitions made this year were Swimming Pool and Eight Women 8212; both directed by Francois Ozon for Euros 800 about Rs 50,000 each. And this money was only for one screening. The producer had to be cajoled to make allowances for a second screening.

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The other expensive film on the list was Gaza Strip directed by James Longley for 200. Film acquisitions for festivals are going to be an expensive proposition with each passing year, say sources at the festival.