Camera d'Or winners Murali Nair and Shaji Karun and hot up-and-coming writer-director Anurap Kashyap are among the filmmakers who have had projects selected for the second edition of India's Film Bazaar co-production market (Nov 26-29).

Nair, who picked up Cannes' Camera d'Or award in 1999 for Throne Of Death, will present Hindi-Chinese drama Simply Love to potential investors and partners later this month (see details below). Karun, who was awarded with a Camera d'Or - Special Mention for The Birth (Piravi) in 1988, has Malayalam and Hindi-language drama Legend at the market.

Kashyap, whose credits include acclaimed documentary Black Friday and drama No Smoking which premiered at the Rome film festival last year, will present suspense thriller Happy Ending, about the culmination of a girl's life-long search for her father.

Other cutting edge filmmakers to have projects selected for the market include Ashim Ahluwalia (John & Jane) and Rajan Khosa (Dance Of The Wind). In addition, UK director Michael Anderson will present an adaptation of Indra Sinha's Booker Prize-nominated novel Animal's People.

Organised by India's National Film Development Corp (NFDC) and held at the same time as the International Film Festival of India in Goa (Nov 22-Dec 2), Film Bazaar aims to encourage the diverse cinemas of India through international co-production and collaboration.

A total of 12 feature films have been selected along with ten documentary projects, tackling subjects such as environmental issues, the choices facing young Indians and the winners and losers of global trade practices (see below).

In addition to the NFDC-selected projects, the European Producers Club is also bringing a slate of India-centric projects that are looking for partners in India. These include an adaptation of Vikas Swarups' novel Six Suspects, to be produced by Paul Raphael, and producer Leslee Udwin's sequel to East Is East, entitled West Is West.

Indian Panorama features and non-feature films that are being showcased by this year's IFFI are also being promoted at the market.

Other features of Film Bazaar include a Work-In-Progress Workshop; a Screenwriters Lab, held in association with Amsterdam-based Binger Filmlab; a series of seminars co-hosted by Screen International, and a master class held by eminent Indian filmmaker Shyam Benegal.

Screenwriters Lab mentors include Philippa Campbell, Sooni Taraporevala, Franz Rodenkirchen and Udayan Prasad. Advisors for the Work-In-Progress workshop include Arclight Films' Gary Hamilton, critic Derek Malcolm and editor Molly Stensgaard (Dancer In The Dark).

Other international guests set to attend the market include Fortissimo Films' Michael Werner, Distant Horizon's Anant Singh and the UK Film Council's Emma Clarke. In addition, former Cinemart director Ido Abram is acting as a consultant to this year's Film Bazaar.

FILM BAZAAR FEATURE PROJECTS

1. Animal's People

Dir/prod: Michael Anderson

Prod co: Quadrapedal Films

Language: English

Synopsis: Derived from the Booker Prize-nominated novel by Indra Sinha about a boy living with the consequences of an explosion in a chemical factory.

2. Bandra Fair

Director: Judith Varma

Producer: Sudhir Mishra

Production Company: Cineraas Entertainment

Language: English

Synopsis: A former Catholic priest returns home from to Mumbai to break the news to his mother that not only has he left the priesthood, but is married with two daughters.

3. A Different Childhood

Director: Brahmanand Singh

Producers: Joy Sengupta / Rajesh Pavithran

Production Company: Born Free Cine Paradise

Language: Hindi

Synopsis: Drama exploring the issues surrounding, and possible solutions to, the global problem of child labour.

4. Happy Ending

Dir/prod: Anurag Kashyap

Production Company: Anurag Kashyap Productions

Language: English / Hindi / French

Synopsis: Suspenseful thriller that plays out over four days in Mumbai and narrates the culmination of a girl's life-long search for her father.

5. Hero

Dir/prod: Mangesh Joshi

Production Company: Pravah Nirmitee

Language: Hindi

Synopsis: A young shoe-shine boy cannot believe his luck when he is chosen to be the hero of a film. But when time passes and nothing is heard of the project, he starts to search for the filmmakers.

6. The Breakers

Director: Rajan Khosa

Producer: Rajan Khosa

Production Company: Elephant Eye

7. Miss Lovely

Director: Ashim Ahluwalia

Producers: Shumona Goel & Ashim Ahluwalia

Production Company: Future East

Language: Hindi

Synopsis: Drama revolving around two brothers who produce sleazy C-grade films, and the innocent, baby-faced beauty who mysteriously appears in their lives.

8. Most Wanted

Director: Manu Gautam

Producer: Ashutosh Deshmukh

Production Company: Freeze Frame

Language: Hindi

Synopsis: The tables are turned against the flashy anchor of a sensational live TV show that brings to the public the country's worst criminals for them to condemn.

9. Samuel Karthikeya

Director: Prakash Kovelamudi

Producer: Prakash Kovelamudi & Suresh Babu

Production Company: A Bellyful of Dreams & Suresh Productions

Language: Tamil / Hindi

Synopsis: A Christian boy of Hindu birth develops an angry alter-ego, named Karthikeya, which seeks justice in the night.

10. Simply Love

Director: Murali Nair

Producer: Elliot Tong

Production Company: Foxy Brown Entertainment

Language: Hindi / Chinese

Synopsis: A software engineer realises his dreams and secures a job in Hong Kong, but his happiness is complicated by the fact that he is engaged to marry a girl in India.

11. Legend

Dir/prod: Shaji Karun

Language: Malayalam & Hindi

Synopsis: A young woman's studies are interrupted when she is brought home by her father at the behest of her mother whom she hasn't seen for 16 years.

12. This Is Not A Love Story

Director: Anahata Menon

Producer: Dushyant Singh

Production Company: Back 2 Back Entertainment & Mesmer

Language: Hindi

Synopsis: Drama following the real-life experiences of a young Indian man who undergoes a sex change.

DOCUMENTARY PROJECTS:

1. Breaking Into Bollywood

Director: Adam Dow

Producer: Ruchika Muchhala

Production Company: Thirdkulture Films

2. Desperate In The Desert

Director: Geeta Singh

Producer: Avinash Kumar Singh

Production Company: I Stylus

3. The Disappearing World: Bees In A Crisis

Director: Mike Pandey

Producer: Gautam Pandey & Arjun Pandey

Production Company: Riverbank Studios

4. Fifty Years Apart: Tales From Sarbatwalla Chowk

Director: Kaevan Umrigar

Producer: Kaevan Umrigar & Vinoo Krishnan

Production Company: Floating Weeds

5. Gang Of Seven

Director: Nitin K

Producer: Nitin K

Production Company: Dissolve Studio

6. The Glacial Tragedy

Director: Pramod Mathur

Producer: Neelima Mathur

Production Company: Spotfilms

7. Killer Punch

Director: Sudhesh Unniraman

Producer: Iqbal Malhotra

Production Company: AIM Television Pvt. Ltd

8. Mad About IIT - JEE

Director: Preeti Mankar

Producer: Preeti Mankar & Suri Gopalan

Production Company: 517 Productions & 1947 Films

9. Of Many Lives

Director: Bidyut Kotoky

Producer: Bidyut Kotoky

Production Company: Dhruv Creative Production

10. Travels Of My T-shirt

Director: Ranjan Kamath

Producer: Ranjan Kamath

Production Company: RKO Moving Media Pvt. Ltd

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