Santhali films
As cinema lovers feast on the various movies screened during the 12th Kolkata Film Festival, the ‘Film Market’ is abuzz with a new and unusual phenomenon - an interest in Santhali language films from foreign buyers.
Producers of Santhali films showcasing their works at ‘The Film Market’ — inaugurated on November 11 as part of the ongoing Festival to promote Bengali cinema — have claimed that they are getting a good response from various buyers settled abroad.
“I have already had two inquiries from Bangladesh and Mauritius. Some more foreign buyers are also expected,” said Jogin De, whose production house has created “Marag Tukare Mayno Meeru” (A Mynah in a Man’s House), the first full-length feature film in Santhali.
De is exhibiting two other films — “Marshal” (Light) and a documentary called “Witchland” depicting the practice of witchcraft among the Santhals — at the ‘Film Market’.
“All my productions are getting a good response. We hope to see it culminate in good business. The authorities of the Asian Film Festival to be held in Delhi are also interested in including my films in their festival,” he said.
Meanwhile, the NGO run by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s daughter — Aranyak — has also set up a shop at the ‘Film Market’ to cash in on the festival frenzy to create awareness about conservation of wildlife and environment.
“We are here with an audio-visual presentation on West Bengal’s fauna. A lot of viewers are watching it on our display screen. Many of them are also picking up our information brochures,” said NGO’s spokesperson Suchanda Mukherjee.
“We are attending the market not so much with a target to generate business than to tell the people about our NGO and its work,” said Mukherjee. ‘Aranyak’ is also using this opportunity to scout for documentary filmmakers so that they can include their work for its Wildlife Film Festival scheduled from January 12-15 next year.
For production house ‘Channel-B Entertainment,’ who attended the ‘Film Market’ with CDs and DVDs of a host of Bengali classical and contemporary films, it is business as usual.
“There is good business. Both locals and foreigners are buying our films. The response is better than what it was when we attended the ‘Film Market’ in 2004. The foreigners are looking for subtitles which most of our films have,” Channel-B owner B L Agarwal said.
Surprisingly, feature films made in the mid-forties on the Indian Freedom movement and classics like ‘Mejdidi’are getting good buyers.
— PTI
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