Goa Gleanings: Takeaways From the International Film Festival of India and Film Bazaar

The annual International Film Festival of India (IFFI) and the overlapping project market Film Bazaar have concluded what has been possibly their most successful editions yet and Variety was on hand to report on the proceedings. Here are some takeaways from the events.

Global Interest in Indian Stories

The international appeal of India-themed narratives, whether Indian-funded or international co-productions, continues to grow, with films including “All We Imagine as Light” and “Girls Will Be Girls” gaining recognition at global festivals. “The success of something like ‘All We Imagine as Light’ increases the possibility for your film to be selected, because it’s driven a fever around Indian cinema right now. It is a real interest,” said Marten Rabarts, head of IFFR Pro, the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s market strand, at a Film Bazaar panel.

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Projects such as the Australia-India co-production “The Return” and collaborations like the Aboriginal-Indian film “Bidjara Kumari” underline the growing strength of India’s international ties. Film Bazaar, with a record 350+ projects presented, has become a hub for fostering such partnerships, with countries like Australia and Spain. International expertise has helped, with Jerome Paillard, former head of the Cannes Market now an advisor to Film Bazaar.

Prithul Kumar, Joint Secretary, Broadcasting, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, called the 2024 edition, “The greatest ever Film Bazaar in terms of delegates and pavilions.” The event boasted a more than 20% increase in delegate numbers to some 1,500, hailing from 31 countries and territories (up from 20 last year.) Similarly, the market hosted 10 new national pavilions and 14 pavilions representing India’s state film promotion organizations. The states in particular were aggressive in promoting themselves as locations and offering incentives that supplement those now offered by India’s central government.

The market organization may be nearing its operational ceiling, however. Many international visitors experienced transport and accommodation snafus. Others said that the scale meant they could not meet everyone they needed to.

Independent Cinema Challenges

Indian independent films face distribution hurdles despite international acclaim, pointing to a need for strategic market solutions. “There is absolutely no independence,” said filmmaker Pan Nalin (“Samsara”) at the Bazaar, describing the interconnected dependencies of sales agents, festivals and distributors. Pan Nalin detailed how his team opted for theatrical releases for Oscar-shortlisted “Last Film Show” in territories like Spain and Scandinavia before streaming deals, noting this strategy helped generate better streaming revenues. He revealed that when budgeting independent films, his team now calculates zero returns from India due to the challenging market conditions for indies.

The theatrical landscape remains particularly challenging in India. “We don’t have enough theaters,” Nirupama Kotru, Joint Secretary and Financial Advisor, Government of India, pointed out, explaining that with just 3,000-5,000 screens for a population of over 1.4 billion, independent films struggle to secure exhibition slots.

The picture is marginally rosier abroad with French producer Dominique Welinski underlining that while streaming platforms and international markets offer opportunities, theatrical releases remain vital in territories where cinema-going culture persists. She cited recent Indian-themed films, “All We Imagine as Light” and Cannes-selected U.K. Oscar entry “Santosh” performing well in France: “Both [films] are doing more than 100,000 admissions in France now, which is quite a lot for us.”

Expansion into New Formats and AI

Joining a growing trend in the rest of the world, both IFFI and Film Bazaar now showcase streaming series alongside traditional film projects, reflecting evolving audience preferences. India, (like the rest of Asia, as evidenced by discussions this year in Bucheon, Busan and Tokyo) is not shy about embracing AI and alternative content development is just one of the byproducts of the technology.  OpenAI‘s Pragya Misra demonstrated the company’s text-to-video model Sora, which within seconds can generate minute-long videos from text prompts. While not yet publicly available, the tool is being tested with selected filmmakers. “What you’re going to see today is probably the worst version of the model you’re ever going to see. We’re only going to get better and more intelligent,” Misra said at an IFFI panel.

AI is a pet theme of IFFI festival director, acclaimed filmmaker Shekhar Kapur who said that the technology recently helped generate the best plot outline he had received for a potential “Mr. India” sequel. “ChatGPT actually gave me the best plot for ‘Mr. India 2,’ better than most of the big name, well-paid writers,” said Kapur, who directed the 1987 original. However, Kapur also emphasized AI’s limitations: “AI cannot feel fear. It cannot feel love… AI is about certainty. It’s not about uncertainty.” Kapur is currently working on “Masoom: The Next Generation,” where he uses AI as a sparring partner for story development, while maintaining that “AI has a long way to catch up with human imagination.”

“Ship of Theseus” director Anand Gandhi addressed concerns about AI’s impact on human creativity, noting that AI will increasingly become a “co-author [and] co-pilot” in creating culture. “We are at the precipice of something massive, unprecedented,” said Gandhi.

The festival and market as B2B launch platform

Both the festival and the market mixed business with pleasure, and both were used as high visibility launch platforms.

Following the signing of an India-Colombia audiovisual coproduction agreement, IFFI’s opening ceremony included the first look at a film examining the role of guru and spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in bringing peace to Colombia. Veteran filmmaker Subhash Ghai presented a look at a docu-drama short on the legacy of Gandhi. And Indian state-owned public broadcaster Prasar Bharati used the same event to launch streaming app Waves. A new series adaptation of ancient Indian epic “The Ramayana” was presented on stage with cast and crew in attendance. 

Veteran producer, Bobby Bedi borrowed a superyacht to unveil details of his company Contentflow Studios’ upcoming production slate. The lineup ranges from international coproductions with Saudi Arabian and Spanish partners and another with musical superstar A.R. Rahman.

Heavyweight delegations from Spain, Australia and Saudi Arabia used Film Bazaar as a platform to pitch incentives and co-productions and to discuss distribution opportunities.

Visible high-profile leadership

Shekhar Kapur, the acclaimed filmmaker whose credits include “Elizabeth” and “Bandit Queen,” took charge as festival director this year. His thought leadership and contacts book had an immediate and visible impact.

The efforts of Kapur and his senior advisory team, including administrator Vani Tripathi Tikoo and producer Bedi, bore fruit, with international names William Pfeiffer, Phillip Noyce, John Seale, Elizabeth Karlsen, Stephen Woolley, Anthony Chen, Jill Billcock, Hugo Weaving and Anthony Chen attending. The cream of the Indian industry including “Lagaan” filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker, Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman, top Bollywood stars Ranbir Kapoor, Manoj Bajpayee, Bhumi Pednekar, Yami Gautam and Rajkummar Rao were also on hand for discussions and presentations.

IFFI’s series of masterclasses was particularly strong. Seale, Noyce, Wooley and Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Lucy Walker appeared to have been prepped to pass on knowledge and insights, not simply chat about their past career achievements. Indian writer-producer-director Vidhu Vinod Chopra was treated to a rock star-like reception. And musical superstar Rahman not only shared his vision of nation building through culture, but also took time to answer volleys of relevant questions from students and aspiring young filmmakers.

“Let’s celebrate our audiences,” Kapur had told Variety before the festival, and the festival and market were indeed thoughtfully geared towards the audience from a curatorial point of view.

Film Bazaar’s ‘Knowledge Series’ ranged from advice sessions on screenwriting, intellectual property rights and career development, through states (Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, among them) touting their strengths as filming locations, and a session on how to productively use social media.

While Film Bazaar sessions were more granular than IFFI’s masterclasses, industry leaders were plentiful there too. They included Oscar-winning producer Guneet Monga Kapoor, Prime Video’s Manish Menghani, “Freedom at Midnight” creator Nikkhil Advani, the BBC’s Sameer Gogate, Technicolor’s Biren Ghose, Screen Australia’s Grainne Brunsdon, Aamir Khan Productions’ Aparna Purohit, “Delhi Crime” creator Richie Mehta and Hollywood hitmaker Chuck Russell.