EXCLUSIVE: Veteran French producer Jacques Bidou, renowned for his work with Rithy Panh, Merzak Allouache, Patricio Guzman, Tsai Ming-Liang, and Pablo Agüero, is in Cannes to talk to potential partners about Indian director Prantik Basu’s debut feature Dengue, a story of a forbidden romance in 1990s Calcutta that will shoot later this year in the city,
Dengue is being made as a coproduction between India’s Riverine Films and France’s Jba Production, the company Bidou runs with Marianne Dumoulin, with Luxembourg’s Samsa Film, the Netherlands’ The Film Kitchen and India’s Kindling Pictures.
The film draws on the director’s own experiences of growing up gay in India during a time when homosexuality was still punishable by law. Support is coming from Aide aux Cinémas du Monde, Cineworld, Netherlands Film Fund, Hubert Bals Funds, and the US’ PJLF Art Funds.
The prolific Bidou has recently released the English-language version of his book, ’Once Upon A Time In Production’, about his experiences making Sundance 2022 Grand Prix winner Yalda in Iran, negotiating 19 funding sources, Iranian censors and US sanctions.
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