Bill Bennett will direct the film, set against the world of honour killings in India. The Little Film Company is handling international sale and will bring to Cannes.

Bennett and Sydney-based Anupam Sharma are producing Defiant from a script by Bennett.

The story follows a journalist who risks her life to help a pair of young Indian lovers on the run from their parents who want to stage arranged marriages.

The film will shoot entirely in North India with principal photography slated to begin in late October.