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Village Rockstars is India’s official selection for the best foreign language film category of the 2019 Academy (Oscar) Awards

INTO THE HEART OF INDIA Self-taught filmmaker Rima Das takes on the world. Her film Village Rockstars, a feminist drama set in rural Assam, is India’s official Oscar selection

Driving the content economy

8-11 April 2019 Cannes, France

6-7 April 2019 - Cannes, France

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5-7 June 2019 Hangzhou, China 14-16 November 2018 Cancun, Mexico

14-17 October 2019 Cannes, France

12-13 October 2019 Cannes, France

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Shooting Locales of India

20 India the World's

Audiovisual Factory

24 Village Rockstars:

India's Academy Award Hopeful

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2018: A Good Year for Indian Cinema

The Ever Evolving Content Business

36 It's the age of Content Creators

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Blockchain in M&E: Future Decoded

42 Infinity Film Festival: Connecting Hollywood & Silicon Valley

India at MIPCOM 2018: SEPC sets the Tone for M&E Growth

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48 Edit Note MIPCOM Takeaways

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t e K r A M M l I F N eUrOPeA e.

r e H S t r A It AllrSE.tConnECt. Explo Do BusinEss.019 7– 15 Feb 2

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power 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL IN INDIAN MEDIA AND showBIZ. WATCH OUT FOR PICKLE 2019 NEW YEAR ISSUE. Pickle’s goal is to help you buy, sell and distribute content from overseas territories, find co-production partners, offshore with best of the Indian service companies and track media and entertainment business in India.

INDIA AND BEYOND

INDIAN COMP Over 40 Indian companies are at American Film Market with a wide range of content for global consumption and to acquire content for territories in India. AFM offers a great opportunity to catch up with global partners in one place. Here are some of the top Indian companies to meet at the market

PANIES @ AFM 2019 Slate Fox Star Studios India is at American Film Market with its 2019 slate of completed films and films on development. Some of Fox Star Studios India films at AFM include Total Dhamaal, Kizie Aur Manny, Student Of The Year 2, India’s Most Wanted, Kalank, The Zoya Factor and Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga among others.

Vast Film Library National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) as a producer seeks partnerships and collaborations with international production and distribution houses, and sales agents. It has a film library of more than 300 films in 21 languages.

Scouting for Partnerships Founded by award-winning documentary filmmaker Dulam Satyanarayana, DSN Films is at AFM to seek collaboration for their feature film in development based on renowned Telugu writer, Dr. Kesava Reddy’s most popular novel, Athadu Adavini Jayinchadu.

Hollywood & Beyond PVR Pictures is the largest independent studio for the distribution of Hollywood films in India. At AFM, its objective is to acquire all rights for Hollywood films and other language films for India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Srilanka, Maldives and Pakistan.

Strong & Steady Star Entertainment is India’s reputed oldest Independent English Film Distribution Company since 1985, which continues to successfully distribute Hollywood Blockbusters and Entertainment/Animation TV programs in the Indian subcontinent.

From World to India VR Films & Studios is at AFM to acquire and distribute English and Foreign language films in Indian sub-continent. It has over 65 dubbing studios across India which provide Dubbing, Mixing and Editing services to various Film and TV clients worldwide. It offers dubbing in English (UK, American, Neutral) and Indian languages.

In sync with Syndication NE Media Syndication is one of the leading media syndication businesses in India catering to the content requirement needs of International Television Channels and have been in the content syndication business for over three decades.

Decades of Experience Glamour Eyes Films & Ruchi Pictures is a Mumbai-based production house having its name prominent in the Bollywood Film Industry since 35 years. It has a vast set of experience in various aspects of filmmaking and trade. The company has produced more than 50 films in the regional and national market.

Award Winners Deepak Kumar Films has produced award winning features, short films, documentaries and TV series. They are at AFM for collaboration and partnerships.

All Under one Roof One Take Media specialise in content production, global content acquisition and distribution, providing Value Add Services (VAS) to global DTH platforms/Cable Platforms in various genres like Nursery Rhymes, Kids Animated Series, Kids Animated Movies and Bollywood Dance Songs among others.

Complete Collaboration Symbiosys is a creatively collaborative, full-service Animation & VFX studio in India with an innovative history that spans over 15 years. It was originally established as a software company and diversified into Animation & VFX with world-class environment, facilities and manpower.

Managing Platforms ASC Digital is a leading content and platform management company that has marked its forte amongst the telecom and entertainment market within India and overseas. ASC Digital takes pride in possessing a catalogue of more than 3000 Bollywood and dubbed Hindi movies and 1000 Indian regional movies.

Not only is AFM the place to buy and sell the freshest content globally, it is teeming with opportunities to help you create new business, green-light partnerships, and lift-off to co-production projects at the earliest stages of development

must do things at AFM

64 World Premieres •••

Over 300 feature films Including 64 World Premieres are set for screenings at 39th American Film Market.

The American Film Market is set to welcome over 400 exhibitors from more than 40 countries and overall participants from more than 80 counties (over 7000 delegates).

More than 70 companies from 28 countries will be attending AFM for the first time as buyers. These companies hail from 28 countries, with the largest numbers coming from the United States with 19 companies; nine from China; four from both Italy and South Korea; three from countries that include Canada, Germany, Spain, Taiwan, and Vietnam; and two apiece from Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Sweden.

AFM hosts the world’s producers and decision makers to four networking receptions at the historic Merry-GoRound on the Santa Monica Pier. The AFM’s Carousel Cocktails provide a unique experience as participants connect and relax at the beach.

Every year new distribution companies and platforms are launched, connecting independent films with audiences throughout the world. We look forward to welcoming all to their first AFM Jonathan Wolf, AFM Managing Director

Attend Blockchain Conference, Saturday, November 3. Through decentralized transactions and transparency, Blockchain can attract stakeholders, reduce production costs and empower producers.

Meet Naaga (V Nagarajan), NE Media Syndication, a 19-year AFM veteran from India. Engaged in buying and syndication, NE Media has close business relationships with leading media and production houses across the world.

At AFM 2018, meet with the leading CG/VFX companies in Korea. CG/VFX accounts for a significant part in K-wave, just like K-POP, K-Drama, K-Movie.

Don’t miss your chance to experience the latest technology of K-CG/VFX.

Understanding Distribution In China: Friday, November 2 With the influx of new streaming platforms, and the continued increase in the number of theaters in China, experts give insights on the distribution options in the Chinese market.

Among the slate of international films to screen are two candidates for the Academy Awards Foreign Language Nomination: Switzerland’s submission Eldorado, from documentary filmmaker Markus Imhoof (Playtime); and Germany’s submission Never Look Away, from writer/ director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

FIND YOUR NEXT LOCALE AT AFM

Location Expo takes place over four days of the American Film Market LocationEXPO®, launched in 2017, will have an even bigger presence at this year’s American Film Market. Taking place over four days of the market – November 3 – 6 – more than 60 Film Commissions, Government Agencies, Production Facilities and Services from around the globe with a combined offering of billions of dollars in production incentives, are confirmed to participate.

LocationEXPO® will be located in a dedicated exhibition space within the Loews Hotel making it an indispensable resource for AFM attendees to learn and gather information about locations, production incentives, services, and resources available to their projects and films worldwide.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

AFCNET (Asian Film Commissions Network) | The Mandy Network Arizona Office of Film and Digital Media | Maui County Film Office Big Bend Film Commission | Media Services Payroll Calgary Film Center | Moscow Film Commission Castilla La-Mancha Film Commission | Nevada Film Office City of San Diego | New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission DITP, Royal Thai Government, Thai Trade Center | Oklahoma Film + Music Office Dominican Republic Film Commission | Ontario International Airport Durban Film Office | Panama Film Commission Estonian Film Institute | PicPortugal Film Development Council of the Philippines | Polish Film Institute Film Fiji | Prosight Insurance Film in Georgia | Riverside County Film Commission Film in Lithuania | Romanian Creative Industries Federation Film in Nepal | The Royal Film Commission –Jordan Film Oasis, Greater Palm Springs CVB | San Antonio Film Commission Film Shasta | Screen Brussels FilmLA | Seoul Film Commission Films from Israel | Shooting in Spain GloriaFX | Southern Kentucky Film Commission HANN Media | State of Hawaii Creative Industries Honolulu Film Office | Taipei Film Commission Kentucky Film Office | Thailand Film Office, Department of Tourism Korea Film Commissions & Industry Network | Trade and Industry, South Africa Louisiana Film Office | Vilnius Film Cluster LTD “Grandma Enterprise” | Visit Big Bend Malta Film Commission | Wardour Studio

FILM FACILITATION OFFICE

FFO acts as a facilitation point for filmmakers in assisting them to get requisite permissions while disseminating information on shooting locations as well as the talent, resources and facilities available for production and post production

FILMING IN INDIA Leveraging this country’s diversity becomes imperative while achieving creative collaborations on a global scale.

It is more so when it comes to collating and managing filmic resources on ground, available within the country. This is where a structured body like the Film Facilitation Office (FFO) comes in.

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, set up the Film Facilitation Office (FFO) in the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) with a view to promote and facilitate film shootings by foreign filmmakers in India.

The services rendered by the FFO have now been extended to Indian filmmakers as well.

It acts as a single-window facilitation mechanism that eases filming in India, as well as endeavours to create a film-friendly ecosystem and promote the country as a filming destination.

The institution of the ‘Most Film Friendly State’ Award, which was won by the State of Gujarat for 2015 and the State of Uttar Pradesh for 2016, is a unique initiative in this direction.

Proposals regarding shooting of feature films, TV / Web shows & series and TV / Web Reality shows & series are handled in the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, which processes the request and takes a decision within a specific time frame. However, permissions for shooting in border areas take longer due to security reasons.

Once the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting approves a project proposal, Indian Missions abroad grant Film Visa [F] to the project team.

For further information visit http://mib. nic.in/film/film-facilitation-office or write to ffo@nfdcindia.com

Shooting Locales

From snowy mountains, pristine islands and plunging ravines to dusty plains, India has to offer probably every possible backdrop that a filmmaker needs to tell a great story. Here are the top attractions from various states of the sub-continent that can take the film viewing experience to an entirely new level

Mumbai, Maharashtra

ocales of India state-by-state Andhra Pradesh (Hyderabad) From sun-kissed beaches of Visakhapatnam to the temples of Vijayawada, the Indian Grand Canyon at Gandikota and the Araku Valley, where the clouds say hello to the hills, Andhra is a filmmaker’s dream come true.

Arunachal Pradesh (Itanagar) Arunachal has everything to offer a film crew. Beautiful landscapes and scenery, roaring and turbulent streams emerging from majestic snow-capped mountains, lush green forests, colourful tribes and hospitable people would make any filmmaker opt to shoot in the state.

Assam (Dispur) One of India’s last great natural and anthropological sanctuaries which very few filmmakers have explored, Assam offers valleys and hills to cascading waterways and unending plains, music and dance, festivals and carnivals.

Bihar (Patna) Serving as the backdrop of films like Gangs of Wasseypur and Manjhi: The Mountain Man, Bihar has a thriving film industry. The government is also developing a film city at Rajgir in Nalanda district, 70 km southeast of Patna.

Chhattisgarh (Raipur) The state served as the backdrop of films like ‘Newton’, which was India’s official entry at the Oscars.

Carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000, Chhttisgarh has a vast tribal area with unmatched natural beauty.

New Delhi

Goa (Panaji) This little state is a panacea for filmmakers exploring locales that offer the lethal combination of beaches and booze. The region with its colonial architecture is a feast for anyone with an eye for details.

Goa, with its vibrant culture, is a theme waiting to be taken up by Western cinema.

Gujarat (Gandhinagar) Winner of Indian government’s national award for the ‘Most film-friendly state’ in 2016, Gujarat is increasingly becoming the most preferred spot for the tinsel world. Filmmakers wishing to offer the audience an ‘eastern’ experience can land in Gujarat.

Haryana

and regions that experience temperature extremes.

Jammu & Kashmir (Srinagar{S*}, Jammu{W*} The Dal Lake dotted with innumerable houseboats and the distant snow covered mountains along with Gulmarg, Sonmarg and Pahalgam at higher levels add unique colour to the surroundings. Together with Jammu and Ladakh regions, the state is a filmmakers’ delight for new locales.

Jharkhand (Ranchi) Jharkhand is a nature lover’s paradise. It is home to countless waterfalls -- Hundru Falls, Lodh Falls and Johna Falls. The State’s locales include forests, hills, valleys, waterfalls, wildlife, history, culture, charming towns and vibrant cities.

(Chandigarh)

Karnataka

Dotted with heritage sites, golf course, lakes and bird sanctuaries, Haryana offers locations like splendid Pinjore Gardens that is the only Mughal garden outside Kashmir and Morni hill station that houses various Tikkar Taal resorts and Quail.

(Bangalore)

Himachal Pradesh (Shimla) From hills to mountains, capped by snowy peaks; punctuated by passes and glaciers, Himachal Pradesh has an abundance of parks, rich with flora and fauna

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This state has the Silicon City of India and a whole array of health spas. A range of architecture depicted through its palaces, temples, mausoleums, monuments and ruins. Sanctuaries, national parks and waterfalls, along with endless beaches, scenic hills and modern cityscapes are abundant here.

Kerala (Thiruvananthapuram) With its unmatched natural beauty, this ‘God’s own Country’ is a God-send LIKE PICKLE IN FACEBOOK

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for cinema. Be it the Athirapally or Paalaruvi Falls, or the backwaters at Kumarakom and misty tea gardens of Munnar, the state has enough to offer as the perfect backdrop for films that are high on romance.

Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal) Winner of Indian government’s national award for the ‘Most film-friendly state’ in 2017, the ‘heart of India’, Madhya Pradesh, offers a wide variety of locales, eliminating the role of a set designer.

From famous forts, marble rocks of Bheraghat, to the green hills of Pachmarhi, the options are rich and many.

The temples of Khajuraho are UNESCO heritage sites.

Maharashtra (Mumbai) Home to Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood, Maharashtra is a director’s delight, as his/her search for locations ends right here. It boasts of a huge variety of options, seeking to be dissected with a camera.

Manipur (Imphal) Tucked in the beautiful North East India, Manipur has to offer some of the most scenic shooting locations in the country. Home to the beautiful Loktak Lake, picturisque Leimram Waterfall and the majestic Kangla Fort, Manipur is a paradise for filmmakers.

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Meghalaya (Shillong) Meghalaya, or the abode of clouds, remains a virgin territory waiting to be exploited for film shootings. Improving its infrastructure manifold, the state recently agreed to come on board the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI) and aspires to become a preferred destination for shooting films.

Mizoram (Aizawl) Mizoram recently organised a three-day Indian Film Festival at Vanapa Hall in Aizawl. The state government is ready to provide any assistance in terms of infrastructure or logistics support if interested filmmakers would venture in this picturesque state.

Nagaland (Kohima) A state that is on the world map for Hornbill Festival and music, Nagaland has much more to offer as a pristine shooting location. Film-friendly policies in order to attract shootings from outside are being put in place.

Odisha (Bhubaneshwar) Odisha is becoming an increasingly popular destination for ‘start, camera, action.’ The Puri Jagannath temple or the chariot-shaped Sun shrine can give modern architecture a run for its money.

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Hampi, Karnataka The Sambalpur waterfalls and the Paradip port mesmerise one, with the confluence of river Mahanadi and Bay of Bengal, at its backdrop.

Punjab (Chandigarh) Already a popular destination with Bollywood filmmakers, Punjab with its ancient buildings erected by the Patiala dynasty, The Golden Temple and a vibrant culture of Amritsar, sunshine-yellow mustard fields, heritage sites, open spaces and effervescent lifestyle, has all the necessary ingrediants to attract global filmmakers.

Rajasthan (Jaipur) This princely state is the top choice for royal tales. With its imposing palaces and forts, the cities of Rajasthan might very well pass of as international destinations, thanks to its foreign tourists.

The stories of Hawa Mahal, Mount Abu

Jang Waterfalls, Arunachal Pradesh

and the haunted forts in Alwar are waiting to be told on celluloid.

Sikkim (Gangtok) Sikkim with its picturisque locations like Yumthang Valley, Lachung, Gnathang Valley, numerous Buddhist monasteries and pristine glacial lakes make for a perfect place to shoot a film.

The state has to offer an investor-friendly policy to make the work of filmmakers easy.

Tamil Nadu (Chennai) Tamil Nadu has a lot in its platter to offer. While the green fields of Pollachi, heavenly falls of Hogenakkal or the misty magic of Ooty and Kodaikanal offer a visual treat to the eyes, the temples of Madurai, or the beaches of Rameshwaram and Kanyakumari take one to a different world altogether.

Sunrise in Goa

UNION Territories of india The seven Union Territories of India are blessed with natural beauty not seen anywhere else in the world.

From shallow lagoons and coral reefs of Lakshadweep, an archipelago off the south western coast of India, to the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal which is home to the Anda-

manese, a group of indigenous peoples including the Sentinelese, who have had little contact with any other people, these Union Territories can match the best of global shooting destinations. Ang Lee’s Oscar winning film ‘Life of Pi’ was shot partly in Puducherry, a UT in South India.

Telangana

panied by the divine bells at Rishikesh and Badrinath, is the right destination for filmakers. Action scenes are bound to get racier, if shot at the skiing mountains at Auli and Munsiyari. The animals at Jim Corbett Park too, await their ten seconds of fame.

(Hyderabad) Telangana is going all out to woo international filmmakers to shoot in the state, especially in various beautiful locations like Jodeghat, Gandhari Killa (fort), Mitta waterfall (Satha Gundu), Manikguda caves, Kerameri Ghat Road and Shivaram, all in Adilabad district, which is over 300 km away from the state capital Hyderabad.

Tripura (Agartala) This state can serve as a perfect backdrop of an adventure film that demands locales where the jungle plays an important part. Full of virgin locations that are awaiting to be explored, Tripura with five mountain ranges—Boromura, Atharamura, Longtharai, Shakhan and Jampui Hills—is a state full with surprises.

Uttarakhand (Dehradun) Uttarakhand with beautiful hills of Nainital, Mussoorie’s waterfalls, accom-

Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow) Taj Mahal in Agra, the symbol of love, has attracted filmmakers to Uttar Pradesh since the black and white era.

The temple town of Varanasi offers a never-seen-before cultural experience for the international viewer, while the Buddhist relics at Sarnath and Lucknow are other places that could double up as props for a film catering to a wide audience.

West Bengal (Kolkata) The British are long gone but the colonial influence still remains, in the look of its buildings and monuments. Interiors and mindsets that haven’t morphed with the time yet co-exist happily with the present.

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ADVANTAGE

INDIA I

ndia offers a growing middle class of hightech savvy consumers and vibrant media, entertainment and innovation sectors. Riding on the back of these advantages, the M&E market grew at a CAGR of 11 percent over 2014-18 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 13 percent in the next five years.

The movie industry in India is big business and box-office revenues are growing steadily. The best opportunities for multinational businesses, however, are more likely found in joint ‘Bollywood’ production projects, rather than in licensing or exporting movies. Electronic home video is expanding rapidly, especially streaming content for a monthly flat rate.

The all-inclusive, unlimited subscription model is gaining in popularity as digital entertainment expands in India just like in many developing economies. Live music and digital music streaming are proliferating in India. Video games, including PC, app-based, digital, and online consoles are also growing rapidly.

The Indian content on screen reaches over 85 countries in all major OTT platforms, including Netflix, Prime Video, iTunes, YouTube. This is just the tip of the iceberg and is set to increase in the coming years. After Hollywood, Indian cinema has the highest reach (in terms of distribution for films) and reaches over 75 territories globally.

India’s strength is emotional content -- telling human stories with universal appeal, irrespective of the language barrier.

Content produced for Indian media sectors holds

tremendous potential for global consumption.

With a significant diaspora population residing overseas, Indian content is a key tool for these communities to connect with their cultural roots.

The Indian film industry is fairly unique in the world. The country, along with America and China, is among the few that can sustain their industry domestically. You can make a film just for India, or even one region within India, and still make a profit. In Britain or in many other countries, you cannot.

Over the last few years, several international filmmakers have shown interest in India as a filming destination owing to its world-class film studios and diversified locations depicting cultural vibrancy, heritage, aesthetic appeal, etc.

‘The world has become a global village’ has been heard for more than a decade. It is time to add ‘Media’ to the phrase, to sound it like: ‘The world has become a global media village’. Techgiants like Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and more have utilised the low cost Indian manpower to keep the bottom-line high and floating. Now it is the turn of media companies to do the same.

Particularly when it comes to Animation, Visual Effects and Gaming sectors, where the dependence on skilled and semi-skilled jobs are plenty, it is prudent that the companies should adapt to the outsourcing model to remain relevant in their respective sectors. This is clearly seen from companies like Technicolor, Deluxe and DreamWorks, which have set their studios in India.

Similarly, many TV productions from Walt-Disney

The movie industry in India is big business and box-office revenues are growing steadily. Over the last few years, several international filmmakers have shown interest in India as a filming destination owing to its world-class film studios and diversified locations

and others are happening due to their joint efforts with Indian companies.

Hollywood production houses were one of the first to outsource their animation and post production work to India. Now, production houses from many other countries such as the UK, Canada, France and Spain have started outsourcing their animation and post production requirements to the sub-continent.

Several movies such as ‘Garfield‘s A Tale of Two Kitties’, ‘Shrek’ and ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ got their post production process completed by an Indian company.

The Augmented and Virtual Reality, the two spectrums of immersive technology, will form the next frontier of growth for the M&E industry. For India, AR/VR can open up new creative avenues.

According to a report, the Indian AR/VR market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 76 percent over the next five years, fuelled by demand from business and consumer sectors. The past few years have witnessed the emergence of 170 AR/VR start-ups in the country, 60 percent of

The Augmented and Virtual Reality, the two spectrums of immersive technology, will form the next frontier of growth for the M&E industry which set up shop in the past 24 months. Bengaluru takes the lead, attracting 27 percent of these start-ups, followed by Delhi at 25 percent and Mumbai at 13 percent. Among states, Karnataka is actively promoting AR/VR start-ups by providing incubation, mentoring, idea validation by experts, opportunities to deploy pilots with various departments, along with fund support for eligible ones.

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India’s Academy Award hopeful

The tale of a village

Rima Das’ much feted Village Rockstars is a remarkable, ground-breaking ode to her birthplace. That the film has brought Assam, a speck on the world cinema map, under the Oscar spotlight is the icing on the cake

by Saibal Chatterjee

I

n 2016, even as she was looking for festival and distribution outlets for her first narrative feature, Antardrishti (Man with the Binoculars), self-taught Assamese filmmaker Rima Das was in the midst of her sophomore production, Village Rockstars, a self-financed work that still had no clear future. She travelled to Cannes for a market screening of Man with the Binoculars but Village Rockstars, which was already in the works, never came up in any conversation that the young filmmaker had there.

Later that year, on the way back from an unrelated event, I swung by her home in Chhaygaon, not very far from Assam’s capital city of Guwahati, for a lunch. Das showed me some footage of the under-production film. Even in that raw, unedited state, Village Rockstars, produced, written, directed, lensed and edited singlehandedly, looked amazingly luminous: it was fresh and spontaneous, vividly evocative of an entire place and culture. I remember exhorting Das to complete the film at the earliest for it had the obvious potential to go places. Village Rockstars is now in the best foreign-language film Academy Award race as India’s official nomination.

The final shape that Village Rockstars assumed only confirmed the early optimism. Pure, beautiful and liberating, it is a visually stunning and emotionally uplifting piece of cinema. There is not a moment in the film that would suggest that it has been made on a shoestring budget without any external support.

Saibal Chatterjee is an independent New Delhibased film critic and writer who has worked on the staff of several leading publications, served on the editorial board of Encyclopaedia Britannica’s volume on Hindi cinema and authored a biography of poet-filmmaker Gulzar.

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Das’ journey from Kalardiya village in northeast India, a part of the subcontinent that usually struggles to find space on the national canvas, let alone at international level, has been nothing short of phenomenal. She had relocated to Mumbai to make a career as an actress.

But she soon realized that the obstacles would be too difficult to surmount, so she turned to filmmaking, armed with knowledge acquired from voraciously consuming the works of world cinema masters. Village Rockstars went on to win India’s National Award, the Golden Lotus, for the best film of the year—the first Assamese title in nearly three decades to do so.

In 2017, Village Rockstars, made with a cast of amateurs drawn from in and around Das’ village, went to the world’s premier film festival as part of the ‘Hong Kong Goes to Cannes’ programme, a pitching platform for four cherry-picked Asian works in progress.

From there on, one thing led to another and Village Rockstars surfaced in the program of the 42nd Toronto International Film Festival. The story of an impoverished village girl who dreams of buying a guitar and forming her own music band with the boys she hangs out with struck an instant chord halfway across the world. The power of simple storytelling is writ large on the film, which, according to Das, “took 150 days of shooting over a period of four years”.

The story that Village Rockstars narrates, says Das, is entirely fictional, but the activities and chores that the characters are depicted as doing in the film are taken from the actors’ lived experiences.

Das uses her camera as an unobtrusive observer looking in on the village folk as their life unfolds and capturing that unique rhythms of the place, complete with its intense struggle with the annual floods that threaten both life and property.

Introducing her film before the screening of a 20-minute excerpt from it in Cannes, Das had said: “Village Rockstars germinated when I was shooting my first film (Antardrishti) in the village. I met these amazing children and was blown away by their enthusiasm. I felt I needed to tell their story on the big screen.”

At the heart of Village Rockstars is 10-year-old Dhunu, a girl raised by a widowed mother. “Growing up in poverty and facing repeated natural calamities, she is a tough soul,” Das said.

“The influence of her tenacious, nonconformist mother makes her even tougher.”

For Das, who usually works out of Mumbai, Village Rockstars marks a return to her roots. “When I returned to Chhaygaon from Mumbai, these children helped me unlearn everything and reconnect

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with the soil,” she told the audience in Cannes.

This is what I had written in my review of Village Rockstars, which was released commercially across India’s bigger cities recently: Forget the multiple richly deserved honors that the film has bagged for these are extraneous to what Village Rockstars represents. The film stands for something that is always under threat: the courage to ignore the reality that life is exceedingly difficult for cinema that is made on the margins of a giant production machinery and recognize that there always are ways out for those who revel in battling the odds, no matter how daunting, and overcoming them.

Written, directed, produced, edited and shot (on a Canon 5D) by Das, the visually beautiful film represents ‘cottage industry’ cinema of the finest timbre. It is fueled by the same defiant spirit of independence that informs the search of its young protagonist, a girl who dreams, against the odds of privation and prejudice, of acquiring a real guitar and forming a rock band of her own with the boys she is friends with in a remote Assam village.

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Village Rockstars marks a watershed for Indian independent cinema because it demonstrates that miracles do happen and it is possible to go from a village all the way to a global stage In a rare development, Village Rockstars, an Assamese film that has emerged from a space far removed from the Indian cinema mainstream, is releasing across the state and in several metropolitan cities of India. In its making, it has pushed many boundaries. Will it, as it unfolds on multiplex screens across the country, kick open the doors that have remained firmly shut on films of its ilk?

‘Kick open’ is probably too strong an expression to use in the context of this film. It is both gentle and genteel, but it achieves those qualities without having to resort to any sort of artifice. It has raw energy coursing through its images, but the many moments of pure magic that the self-taught filmmaker creates in her second directorial venture stems not so much from constructed approaches to filming as from her refusal to succumb to the lure of easy methods.

Village Rockstars is a tribute to the place that Das belongs to and a celebration of the indomitability of its people, manifested in the ability of Dhunu (Bhanita Das) and her mother (Basanti

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pickle entertainment biz guide

Das) to dare to attempt the impossible.

Of course, Dhunu is no ordinary village girl. She is poor. She has to contend with gender bias. But she is blissfully unaware of the obstacles in her path thanks to a mother who sees her daughter as an embodiment of the power of womanhood. (www.ndtv.com) Village Rockstars may not have set the domestic box-office on fire. It wasn’t expected to. Its triumph lies in beating off competition from tent-pole Bollywood productions and earning the right to represent India at the Oscars. Mumbai’s mainstream moviemakers have been rather stingy in coming out in support of a small, independent film propelled solely by passion and self-belief. Village Rockstars may not have the wherewithal to market itself in the lead-up to the Academy Awards. Whether it goes all the way or not, it marks a watershed for Indian independent cinema because it demonstrates that miracles do happen and it is possible to go from a village all the way to a global stage.

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2 0

BEST OF THE TIMES

A Good Year for INDIAN CINEMA

Content driven films received

critical acclaim besides setting cash registers ringing, while

1 8 28

big budget films enthralled fans and streaming services gained ground, opening new avenues of revenue making.

T

he year 2018, which is set to end soon, will be remembered for long by stakeholders of Indian cinema- from filmmakers to stars to trade persons to critics to audience. For, content driven films received critical acclaim besides setting cash registers ringing, big budget films enthralled fans and streaming services gained ground, opening new avenues of revenue making.

While ‘content films’ like ‘Merku Thodarchi Malai’ and ‘96’ impressed one and all, so-called ‘masala films’ with big stars in the cast- ‘Padmaavat’, ‘Sanju’, ‘Kaala’- too did magic in the box-office. Sample these figures: At India’s largest multiplex chain, PVR Cinemas, ticket sales went up from about 21 million in the first quarters of 2017-18 to 22.7 million in the same period 2018-19.

And this has happened in a year when OTT platforms have reported unprecedented growth. Says M B Kumar, a film analyst, “2018 is turning out to be a win-win year for all in cinema. The increase in ticket sales and the growth of OTT platforms show people are ready to consume good content by spending money if the product is really good. And this trend is only set to grow upward LIKE PICKLE IN FACEBOOK pickle biz guide in theentertainment future.”

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He however has a word of caution. “It is in the hands of both filmmakers and business channels to arrive at a fine balance. Content should be allowed to remain king and prices should be competitive.”

‘96’, ‘MTM’ and ‘Pariyerum Perumal’, all ‘small-budget’ Tamil films, made good collections and also secured high ratings in the IMDB. Meanwhile, though some weeks only are left for the curtains to come down on 2018, a bunch of interestkindling films are ready to hit the screens.

The list includes ‘Thugs of Hindostan’, ‘2.0’, ‘Sarkar’, ‘Zero’ and ‘Simmba’.

Content driven films received critical acclaim besides setting cash registers ringing, big budget films enthralled fans and streaming services gained ground, opening new avenues of revenue making 30

‘Thugs of Hindostan’ is a Hindi epic action-adventure film, written and directed

by Vijay Krishna Acharya, and produced

by Aditya Chopra under his banner Yash Raj Films. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Lloyd Owen in leading roles. Set in 1795, the film follows a band of Thugs led by Khudabaksh Azaad, who aspires to free Hindostan (the Indian subcontinent) from the rule of the expanding British East India Company.

‘2.0’, starring Rajinikanth in the lead, is a science fiction film written and directed

by Shankar and produced by Subaskaran of Lyca. The film serves as a spiritual successor to the 2010 Tamil film ‘Enthiran’, and features Rajinikanth reprising the roles of Dr Vaseegaran and Chitti, alongside Akshay Kumar and Amy Jackson.[4] With an estimated budget of Rs 543 crore, it is the most expensive Indian film made to date.

‘Sarkar’ is a political thriller film starring Vijay, Keerthy Suresh, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Yogi Babu and Radha Ravi.

It is directed by A R Murugadoss, with

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music composed by A. R. Rahman, cinematography by Girish Gangadharan, edited by Sreekar Prasad and produced by Kalanithi Maran under the banner Sun Pictures.

Shah Rukh Khan-starrer ‘Zero; is a romantic drama film written by Himanshu Sharma and directed by Aanand L Rai. The film is jointly produced by Colour Yellow Productions and Red Chillies Entertainment’s Gauri Khan and distributed by Yash Raj Films. It stars Shah

Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma. The plot follows Khan playing a man of short stature, who falls in love with a superstar played by Kaif. Sharma portrays the character of a girl with intellectual disability.

‘Simmba’ is directed by Rohit Shetty and produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions. It stars Ranveer Singh and Sara Ali Khan in lead roles. The film is a remake of 2015 Telugu film ‘Temper’, which is about a rogue police officer who gets reformed due to love.

And the slate for 2019 too looks promising, with films such as Hrithik Roshanstarrer Vikas Bahl’s biographical film ‘Super 30’, which is based on the mathematician Anand Kumar, Rajinikanth’s ‘Petta’, Chiranjeevi’s ‘Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy’ and Ajith Kumar’s ‘Viswasam’.

Good times are here, one can say.

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Dinesh Gupta,

Founder & MD of Sacom Mediaworks

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With the world moving to 1 Gigabyte per second speed on broadband and 5G mobile networks, the single biggest business to be impacted by this change is be the M&E business and how content is consumed

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DIGITAL TRENDSETTER

The Constant Truth in an Ever Evolving Content Business Evolution seems like the single biggest reality that will consistently continue to keep redefining the content business, writes Dinesh Gupta, Founder & MD of Sacom Mediaworks 2008: A family of 5 gets in front of a television screen in their living room to get their daily dose of entertainment and family time.

2018: There are 3 television screens in the same home with every member owning a 4G enabled touch screen mobile device, each consuming content of their choice either on a television screen, which is delivered via cable, direct to home or internet, or on their handheld devices.

T

hey choose to stream content on their personal device or simply mirror it from their devices on their television sets.

This metamorphosis has made the transformation of M&E business a constant phenomenon, from content to viewers, platforms, modes of delivery and last mile devices that consumers consume on—all have evolved. While this ecosystem is now well defined than it has ever been, evolution seems like the single biggest reality that will consistently continue to keep redefining the content business.

Content has evolved from being made for television in a linear form to an age where it is now made for a screen with a mode of delivery in mind. Appointment viewing pattern has drastically reduced to a point that it is now limited to daily soaps, news to some extent, with a large part of it being dominated by the live sports broadcasting globally. A viewer now finds content of his choice, on a screen of his choice at a time of his choice. Netflix introduced the bingewatching concept for high quality content, redefining how content can be consumed and invested heavily in making this simple yet path-breaking pattern a way of life for its users.

Different users of the same family can

33

now use the same Netflix account in a way that they consume content of their own choice, and yet find a personalized user experience based on their consumption patterns.

So, each of them have a different world of their own on the same platform. Netflix was ingenuous as it was the perfect marriage of content strategy and technology – a simple reimagining of the existing status quo that we inherited from appointment viewing based broadcast.

This metamorphosis has also brought an amazing pattern, where every form of delivery platform has found its own distinct viewer, while the consumer has now become content loyal and platform agnostic. There is a very clear distinction between the free and the paid user, between a Free TV and a Pay TV user, an AVOD on OTT, YouTube & SVOD user.

Choice has not only spoilt the consumer but has also given them a much clearer sense on where they belong, even though this maybe dynamic. Mechanics on what to serve the consumer, where and how to find him are very well defined now. The quest for platforms to stay competitive is creating consolidation and new strategies that can help them drive growth.

Over the top platforms have a very deep learning of their consumers, trends and patterns that are driven by data analyt-

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A viewer now finds content of his choice, on a screen of his choice at a time of his choice ics and machine learning. They are also able to deliver unparalleled user experience thanks to a variety of algorithms and AI driven recommendation engines.

Localization has further been a vital tool for platforms to help improve content consumption. Platforms and devices are constantly working to improve user experience based on what a consumer really wants and adapting to technological innovations that can aid this. This helps digital platforms understand, predict and plan on how they can retain a consumer and bring new users into the fold. The media industry, in its latest avatar, has created a need that consumers previously, perhaps, were unaware of – choice. And this need of choice, quite ironically, has reduced his affinity to any particular brand or platform of content delivery.

But over the air broadcasting can’t be dismissed outright. Yet, television viewing patterns have drastically changed and evolved and so has its audience.

Platforms have worked hard to keep pace with the change in order to stay relevant in these challenging times. No denying that media fragmentation and personalization has taken a lot away from the TV business, though they have worked to keep their content relevant by subscribing to catch up TV and over the top products addressing the same consumer and bringing back the lost consumer, as they find new ones in a bid to build newer sources of revenue growth.

Most developing and under developed countries witness sizeable amount of content consumption on television which ends up as their primary medium of choice with reasonable growth, driven by good content and innovations.

Metrics on how the TV business can deliver customization and a better user experience have been limited, though TV constantly works to add newer technologies, evaluate viewership patterns in deeper detail to plan an apt content

34

pickle entertainment biz guide

strategy while maintaining the balance between subscription and advertising revenues. Media fragmentation, depleting subscription and advertising revenues have brought better cost controls and innovative methods for television networks to maintain viewership.

Mobile network operators now take a very keen interest in the M&E business. They view the content business as their single biggest tool to grow their data consumption and improve their ARPUs. With the world moving to 1 Gigabyte per second speed on broadband and 5G mobile networks, the single biggest business to be impacted by this change is be the M&E business and how content is consumed.

This dynamic has also led to some of the leading global telecom giants like AT&T, Vodafone & Jio to invest in buying or partnering with television networks. This pattern is likely to stay and will provide the television business with the push it needs to survive and grow.

Mobile network operators will continue to evolve the world of television and content in the near future. The mode of distribution has changed and will consistently continue to change in the future.

Content production and distribution are getting integrated. Content creators are increasingly investing in high end premium slates that are redefining rules of the game. High speed internet connectivity, access, high quality content, better devices at all price points, personalization and mobile network operators entering the M&E business are key drivers of today’s content ecosystem. All these are today’s truths that will become tomorrow’s history. The only absolute truth is that content business will be in a continuous state of evolution. And to stay topical we need to stay fluid – as organizations and as individuals. And that isn’t a choice; it simply is a necessity.

Dinesh is the Founder & MD of Sacom Mediaworks, a content company that works to create, distribute and monetize content that reaches over 80 countries globally across Television, OTT & Telco platforms.

Sacom owns 12 content IPs in 20 languages ranging from Health & Wellness, Food, Travel, Sports, Bollywood, Kollywood, Hollywood & women’s content. Sacom also has a proven track record of producing & distributing content for global markets, it has successfully distributed over 5,000 hours of content to 40+ platforms in 5 continents and 15 languages. Dinesh also co-founded TripFactory.com. Dinesh can be reached at dinesh.gupta@sacom.in

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ER ISSU E MIT CURTAIN RAIS CII BIG PICT URE SUM t 2013

We hear voices.

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INDIAN ENTERTAI NMENT

BIZ GUIDE OCTOB ER 2017

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Uncommon creativity in the heart of New York City.

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INNOVATION IN MEDIA Towards $100 Billion

CONTENT BUYS FROM INDIA

Indian M&E Industry

3B

Viacom18 Media has completed an eventful decade in Indian M&E space.

How Group CEO Sudhanshu Vats is looking forward to surprise viewers and competitors with the ‘contentfirst’ approach

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Y SESSIONS Convergence of USD 100 bn Visiothe new multiplier for M&E ’s n The Big Picture Will there be Dialogue – Symphony at the Altar of Converg ence?

GuIdE Solving the Fundr t a I n m E n t B I z E n t E ing Ian FEBr uarY 2016 I n d The Case of a Bott Conundrum – le Half Filled?

Disrupt, Cha nge for Traditional and Connect – Takeawa EFM at ys Platforms from India Online Berlin Innovations

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Skill set Hun ting for Digital Disruption Associate Spons Indian Cinema or Delegate Kit – Corporate Contrib Volumes to Valu Making the Journey fromwww.picklemag.com utor ation Censorship to Creative Expr The Changin his essi g Phase of India on: With non. ome n a phen GST: r 12 amid hugeCinema Gam just an actor, but mbe not e is Cha h Dece nger on ikant day for M&E Rajin Contact: ntorat Sect veme e achie ns on his 63rd birth The Roa Vaishali Shri lifetim Ahe vastava/Nee ad for the Mus ready to hit the scree honoured for dhis Tel: +91 11 45771 tu Sikka ic Industry 053/ 45771016 demigod, who was Pickle bythe le in ght (D) / 45771000 profi Neetu Sikka Mob.: expectations, the al. ACau (Extn. 254/406) + 91 9910275190 ins cool and casu Practitioners inCross Fire – Policy vs | Email: neetu the Sporting the IFFI 2014, rema .sikka@cii.in Arena04-12-2014 15:34:54 Reg

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Pickle business guide tracks the entertainment business in India.

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Kavithalayaa Geared up for Digital Journey

It’s the Age of Conten

With an internet savvy audience and one of the youngest p the need for selecting the appropriate content had never b says Kandaswamy Bharathan, Joint Managing Director, Ka

I

ndia has always been the home for duction house, founded by the maverick media content. There has been a story teller K Balachander, with 58 films steady increase of 11-12 percent ev- under its production belt, and over 110+ ery year in the number of people serials to its name. It has stepped into turning towards Digital Media. The ad- the Digital OTT platform with its very vent of Digital India Initiative in 2014 played a pivotal role in the growth of internet penetration.

With over 477 million internet subscribers and over 300 million smartphone users in India (according to an EY study 2018), Digital Media is getting the necessary traction. This has enabled platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, etc, to make their foray into the entertainment business. ‘Binge watching’ of web series has become a house-hold habit. With the TV programs now being aired on digital platforms and applications, statistics shows that the number of people using their mobile phones to watch these shows is almost equal to those watching them on television.

Social media is playing a huge part in propagating Digital Media. The Digital India initiative is noteworthy due to the ‘word-of-mouth’ culture that prevails among the youth dominating the social media. The deeper internet penetration has also played a huge role in the advent of Digital media. Easy access to Kavithalayaa's first non-fiction digital series ‘Harmony-with AR Rahman’ networks makes it possible for the people to access Digital Media content anytime from first non-fiction digital series ‘Harmony-with AR Rahman’, which is streamanywhere.

India is not only known for movies and ing globally and exclusively on Amazon fictional content. We have noteworthy Prime Video since August 15, 2018. documentaries and non-fictional shows ‘Harmony with AR Rahman’ is a curated as well. Kavithalayaa is a 37-year-old pro- musical and a visual exploration of the

ent Creators

populations of the world, been more critical, avithalayaa

versatility of Indian music across years, transcending all barriers. Epitomizing the idea that “Sounds are many but Music is one”, this series is a true celebration of music with Mr Rahman bringing

Kandaswamy Bharathan in real-time to meet the musicians in their very own dwellings and experience their traditional art forms. As the series unfolds the lives of the musicians, their day-today practices, performances and teaching of their craft to students, their stories of struggle and the challenges that come along, the audience will get to understand what it means to keep such a rich musical heritage and tradition alive in the 21st Century. With viewers from India, USA and the UK, this series has a rating of 9.5 in IMDb. Indian content with international appeal has achieved a wide reach and a discerning global audience that has grown steadily. With an internet savvy audience and one of the youngest populations of the world (65% of India’s population are under the age of 45), the need for selecting the appropriate content had never been more critical.

The OTT players in India sign up deals with both the television companies and digital platforms where the content either gets released on TV, or digital platforms first, and then made available in the latter. They have to be on the constant lookout for fresh, differentiated and engaging content. The EY study forecast says that by 2020 the number of online consumers in India is expected to cross 4 million. So, it implies that the time for Indian content creators has finally arrived!

“The Internet is the

greatest thing that ever happened to the

entertainment industry” -Michael Ovitz. about the mind, body and soul in harmony with themselves and with Mother Nature.

The five-part digital series, which was aired this year on Amazon Prime, has Rahman travelling across the country

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Blockchain in M &

Along with innovations like Artificial Intelligence, bloc and Entertainment industry. Here is what entails once t

I

n his book titled Fourth Industrial Revolution, Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, says that blockchain has the potential to become a powerful disruptive force. The advantages of adopting this new technology for the creative economy, he says, possess transformatory powers. “The blockchain is a shared, programmable, cryptographically secure and therefore trusted ledger which no single user controls and which can be inspected by anyone,” argues Schwab in his book.

In essence, blockchain is the technology of future, believe 58 percent of the 800 executives surveyed in the book. Up to 10 percent of global GDP will be stored using blockchain technology, they suggest.

The advantages of using the technology goes far beyond financial transactions.

Any transaction, product life cycle, workflow, or supply chain could, in theory, can use blockchains.

Among numerous advantages of using blockchain technology features for creative industry include keeping a check on frauds as transactions are verified and ap-

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pickle entertainment biz guide

proved by consensus among participants in the network. Anyone can trace or audit prior transactions due to the tracking feature which allows better insights into the full chronology of events that take place.

Since the blockchain technology operates on a distributed, rather than a centralized platform, each participant has access to exactly the same ledger records.

In the creative economy, blockchain can redefine how artists are remunerated. For example, if when anyone wants to pay for the right to play a song at a concert or the right to play a song in a movie, it causes quite a lot of transaction friction and becomes a time taking process. In such cases, blockchain can act as a platform for creators of intellectual property to receive value for their work.

Blockchains can host “smart contracts” to help artists manage digital rights and allocate revenue shares to contributors to the creative process. Such smart contracts have the potential to replace conventional contracts, which can be esoteric and leave some artists with little power over the terms for the content they generate.

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& E: Future Decoded

ckchain has a huge potential to transform the Media the technology is adopted by the creative industry Royalties could be designed to be more inclusive, offering fairer terms for composers, lyricists, and musicians—all stakeholders involved in the creative process.

One of the most useful feature of blockchain is that the transactions for a creative work could be seen and validated, including who accessed the work and how much revenue the work is generating at any point in time. This will allow stakeholders to have a better sense of the overall value of the creative work that is being produced, all in the form of a digital ledger provided in the blockchain.

Furthermore, blockchain will make it transparent who the owner of the creative material is.

Prices for creative content could fluctuate according to supply and demand. Blokchain allows artists to control prices and have the ability to set prices themselves without having to go through a complex web of intermediaries.

Digital music stores such as iTunes allow consumers to purchase individual song tracks. Using blockchain, snippets of creative works could be made available for a price, for example, a few seconds of a song for use in a movie trailer. This kind of “micrometering” works by having the blockchain record the precise components of the creative work that were used, defining the smallest consumable unit of creative content.

AFM Blockchain Conference November 3 Nelson Granados, Ph.D., Executive Director of The Institute of Entertainment, Sports, Media, and Culture and The Center for Applied Research and Forbes Contributor, Pepperdine Graziadio Business School Presenters Irina Albita, Co-Founder, FilmChain/Big Couch UK “Run Your Money Flows with Blockchain – From Global Distributors to Filmmakers’ Pockets” Andrea Iervolino, CEO, AMBI Media Group/TaTaTu “New Business Models for the Film Industry: How Can Blockchain Support the Financing and Monetization of Your Movie?”

Florian Glatz, Co-Founder, Cinemarket “Motion Protocol: A Unified Ecosystem for the Film Value Chain” Robert Binning, CEO, StreamSpace “How Blockchain Technology Will Revolutionize the Independent Film Distribution Industry” Dr. Steven Nia, Chairman & Founder, Wardour Studios “The Hollywood Blockchain: Empowering Entertainment with a New Paradigm” Sam Klebanov, CEO, Cinezen Blockchained Entertainment AB “Bringing Blockchain-VOD to the Real World: Possibilities, Challenges and Solutions” Alan R. Milligan, CEO, White Rabbit “Is Blockchain Enough to Change Digital Distribution, or Do We Need More?”

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Infinity Film Festival

Connecting Hollywood The four-day event in Beverly Hills starting November 1 aims to bridge the gap between the tech and film industries

Nick Urbom and Mark Lieber think, two former media marketing experts turned live event producers, have created the Infinity Film Festival, a four-day event in Beverly Hills starting November 1 that aims to bridge the gap between the tech and film industries.

According to the organisers, the festival invites delegates to experience unique moments in time in the entertainment capital of the world.

“Hollywood, Silicon Valley and Silicon Beach have come together to showcase over 75 hours of screenings, 30 CuttingEdge Technology Exhibitions and more than 150 industry thought-leaders over the course of four days, November 1 - 4, 2018,” they say in a statement.

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pickle entertainment biz guide

The festival will have an emerging-tech focus, including: Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence and Augmented & Virtual Reality. New directions for traditional forms of content will include: Features, Episodic, Digital-First and more. Programming will include more than 75 hours of screenings, 30 technology exhibitions and over 100 industry-leading speakers from Hollywood, Silicon Valley and Silicon Beach with networking opportunities and gala evening events. Epic will also host the IFF Tech Lab with Unreal Engine training for film and virtual production. Programming advisors include over 80 members from leading studios, talent agencies and technology companies.

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wood & Silicon Valley Festival organizers also announced their opening keynote speaker, Vicki Dobbs Beck, Executive in Charge at ILMxLAB, Lucasfilm’s award-winning immersive entertainment division, and board member for the Infinity Film Festival. “ILMxLAB is thrilled to present at the Infinity Film Festival in Beverly Hills. We look forward to sharing insights as to how emerging technologies such as Virtual and Augmented Reality offer opportunities to ‘Step Inside Our Stories’ by bringing worlds to life and establishing deep and intimate connections to characters,” said Dobbs Beck.

Unreal Engine technology has been used in film and television production for years and now it’s being used to achieve final imagery in real

In addition to the varied formats being showcased at IFF, a partnership to present leading short-form content has been formed with Audience Awards, now in its fifth year. “With our focus on impact, innovation and diversity in shortform filmmaking, we see Infinity Film Festival in Beverly Hills as a natural partner to strengthen the ability for our award-winning filmmakers to continue positively changing the world,” said Audience Awards Founder and CEO, Paige Williams.

To support the festival theme of “story advanced by technology,” Epic will present classes on filmmaking and virtual production with Unreal Engine in the IFF Tech Lab™.

“Unreal Engine technology has been used in film and television production for years and now it’s being used to achieve final imagery in real time, signaling a momentous shift in workflow,”

time, signaling a momentous shift in workflow, says Epic Games CTO Kim Libreri

said Epic Games CTO Kim Libreri. “The Infinity Film Festival presents a timely opportunity for us to provide training to help cinematic and visual effects professionals unlock all of the creative possibilities with Unreal Engine.”

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INDIA AT MIPCOM 2018

SEPC Sets the Tone Benefitting a large number of M&E companies engaged in coproduction, VFX, production and animation content creations services, the India Pavilion at MIPCOM 2018 served well in helping participants engage with the best of the global M&E business leaders at the world’s largest audio visual market MIPCOM, the annual future gazing of entertainment industry at Cannes, is the finest in the global media markets when it comes to empowering delegates to network with the best business minds, capture emerging trends, listen to masterminds, create business for products and services and think innovation. For many years, it is a must attend event for top decision makers to grasp the new ecosystems in the M&E business.

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pickle entertainment biz guide

It was for the first time that Services Export Promotion Council (SEPC), set up by the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, organised the India Pavilion at the 2018 edition of MIPCOM after recognising the Indian Media and Entertainment vertical as one of the champion sectors for economic growth.

Recognising the huge business potential of MIPCOM in furthering the growth of

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Tone for M & E growth the Indian media sector, SEPC brought out India @MIPCOM Directory and India Services Guide (M&E) during the event.

“It’s a great initiative. We applaud SEPC and Ministry of Commerce, Government of India. This sector has a huge potential for export at a time when India’s soft power is on the rise,” says Ketan Mehta, the renowned filmmaker and managing director of Cosmos Maya, which has produced some of the most popular animation shows such as Motu Patlu, Kisna, VIR- The Robot Boy, among others.

SEPC offered Indian delegates at MIPCOM registration badges at 45% discount price compared to the official registration cost. The participants were also offered spaces to hold meetings, display brochures, and do branding activities at the India stall.

“Our objective is to handhold independent creative producers, small and medium audiovisual and media services companies to enhance their business as well as boost India’s service potential in M&E sector,” said Sangeetha Godbole, Director General, SEPC. “The whole objective is to give Indian M&E companies better access to buyers and distributors and help them grow in the new global markets.”

Twenty seven Indian companies engaged in co-production, VFX, production and animation content creations services were part of the India Pavilion at the market. Overall, 90 companies with over 250 delegates participated at MIPCOM 2018.

“For a beginning as also for the first time, it was very well executed. We will continue to participate in future markets set up by SEPC,” said Dinesh Gupta of Sacom Mediaworks, which has a niche Indian digital content offering in MENA markets.

In addition to manage and represent India Pavilion, SEPC launched the second edition of enTTech 2019 at MIPCOM. Slated to take place March 7-8 in Mumbai, enTTech will bring togeth-

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er the entire spectrum of Indian M&E services under one umbrella for overseas production studios and offshore companies to explore service offerings from India. In addition to the exhibition, the two-day mega event covers workshops, master classes, B2B meetings and field visits, among other activities.

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INDIA AT MIPCOM 2018

New Synergies, New Possibili With demand for fresh content growing at a phenomenal pace, the power-packed MIPCOM 2018 witnessed opening of new possibilities for Media and Entertainment sector, as new synergies promise to continue the growth momentum • Personality of the Year, Issa Rae, inspired MIPCOM delegates by sharing her passion, commitment and encouragement to foster opportunities for up and coming content creators.

• Momentum continues to grow for the entertainment industry to truly embrace diversity and equality in front and behind the camera.

• Powerful online companies are talking cooperation with traditional broadcasters while the latter develop their own SVOD strategies.

MIPCOM PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR - ISSA RAE AND PAUL ZILK, CEO REED MIDEM

A packed MIPCOM 2018, which saw 13,800 delegates, including over 4,800 buyers from over 110 countries in Cannes, reflected significant developments within the content creation industry.

In line with MIPCOM’s central theme of The Big Shift, those developments included: • MIPCOM 2018 Country of Honour, China, clearly indicated its new strategic ambitions to export more programming to the worldwide market and to enter into co-productions with international partners. Multiple deals involving Chinese companies took place in Cannes.

• High-end drama series, from international sources such as Channel One Russia’s ‘Trigger,’ continue to attract the major SVOD players and TV broadcasters alike. Talent was out in force to support new drama series with creators such as Spain’s Showrunner Alex Pina and Esther Martinez Lobato now considered stars in their own right.

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pickle entertainment biz guide

“There are new dynamics within the entertainment industry and the good news is that more people are watching more content, for more time, on more devices, than ever before,” notes Jerome Delhaye, Director of Reed MIDEM’s Entertainment Division. “The debate now is how companies will compete or work together to get the right content to the right viewer.”

Country of Honour China Makes Coprod/Export Moves With 156 companies in Cannes and headed by China’s International Promotion Bureau of the State Council Information Office and China’s National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA), the Chinese delegation of over 400 executives, was the largest ever to attend MIPCOM or sister event MIPTV.

MIPCOM OPENING PARTY - RED CARPET CHINA COUNTRY OF HONOUR - CHANGRONG SHANG AND JUNJIE TENG

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ilities Emerge at MIPCOM 2018 China came to Cannes with ambitions to develop exports of its programming and to foster co-production discussions with international content creators.

Speaking at MIPCOM, NRTA Vice Minister Fan Weiping noted, “Over the past 15 years, with the rapid development of China’s economy and society, China’s film and television cultural industry has become increasingly prosperous, and international communications and cooperation have been remarkably active…China would like to sincerely cooperate with all of its friends in order to stimulate a new dynamism in the international development of the audiovisual industry, and to contribute together to the prosperity of various cultures.”

During MIPCOM 2018, a string of deals involving Chinese companies were unveiled.

• Endemol Shine China signed with film and TV production company Blue&White&Red Pictures and Chinese IP specialist Cloudwood to make a Mandarin-language version of British crime drama ‘Broadchurch’ for the Chinese market. Endemol Shine have also pacted with CCTV to create an international version of popular Chinese series ‘The Nation’s Greatest Treasures’ and will work with CCTV to co-develop new, unscripted TV formats for Chinese TV channels and international markets.

• Chinese internet service provider Tencent co-produced natural history series ‘Dynasties’ with the BBC Studios as part of a wider deal that sees

MIPCOM OPENING PARTY - RED CARPET CHINA COUNTRY OF HONOUR - PANDA HEHE AND HAPPY DAD AND SON

the duo working together to create a Chinese fan base for the BBC Earth Tribe web site which has just gone live on Tencent Video.

• Huace Film & TV announced a new phase of collaboration and co-production with eOne. • Chinese content company Sansang Media has sold drama series ‘Burning Ice’ to Japanese broadcaster NEP. The series has aired on Chinese streaming platform iQIYI. Big Drama Brings Big Names to MIPCOM What was clear throughout MIPCOM is that the appetite for high-end series is as strong as ever and companies brought an array of talent to Cannes, including Richard Gere – promoting another BBC political thriller drama ‘MotherFatherSon’ – to add that special touch to their marketing campaigns.

MIPCOM 2018: DIVERSIFY TV EXCELLENCE AWARDS WINNERS

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pickle entertainment biz guide

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“Issa Rae epitomises the change within entertainment,” notes Laurine Garaude, Director of Reed MIDEM’s Television Division. “She launched herself with ‘Awkward Black Girl’ on her YouTube channel and now there is this great TV series on HBO. She has shown young creators that they can produce targeted shows that aren’t restricted by the need to reach the mass audiences craved by the networks. In addition, Issa Rae doesn’t talk diversity…she lives it.”

MIPCOM 2018 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: TORU OTA, SENIOR EXECUTIVE MANAGING DIRECTOR OF FUJI TELEVISION NETWORK, JAPAN AND PAUL ZILK, CEO REED MIDEM

Hot ticket event on Monday October 15 was the World Premiere TV Screening of ‘Escape at Dannemora,’ Ben Stiller’s TV directorial debut which starts airing on Showtime in the US on November 18. CBS Studios International brought Stiller to MIPCOM. Stiller noted that a few years ago, this kind of action drama would probably have headed to cinemas but that television now offers the best platform for telling great stories.

BBC Studios latest foray into epic drama, ‘Les Miserables,’ saw leading cast members Dominic West and David Oyelowo in town where they rubbed shoulders on the MIPCOM Red Carpet with Sean Bean (supporting Sky Vision’s ‘Curfew’), Jenna Coleman (‘The Cry’), Colman Domingo (‘Fear the Walking Dead’) and ‘Project Blue Book’ all-star cast Michael Malarkey, Laura Mennell and Aidan Gillen.

Confirming that prime drama series are coming from around the world, Spanish showrunners Alex Pina and Esther Martinez Lobato (‘La Casa de Papel’) accompanied their latest project ‘The Pier’ alongside lead actors Alvaro Morte, Veronica Sanchez and Irene Arcos. One of the first deals announced in Cannes was that France’s leading private broadcaster TF1 had acquired ‘The Pier’ from distributer Beta Film.

Personality of the Year Issa Rae Inspires MIPCOM MIPCOM Personality of the Year, Issa Rae, inspired MIPCOM delegates by sharing her passion, commitment and encouragement to foster opportunities for up and coming content creators.

Recognised for her generation-defining influence on the entertainment industry, Rae’s web series hit ‘Awkward Black Girl’ which she produced, directed and starred in, paved the way for HBO’s ‘Insecure’ where she is writing, producing and starring in season three, with season four already ordered.

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Speaking to a packed Grand Auditorium audience, Issa Rae commented on her first web series ‘Dorm Diaries’ that she created while she was a student at Stanford. She said that the traditional (and expensive) route of pitching to networks had proved fruitless as she was told “there isn’t an audience for this type of content.”

MIPCOM Continues Drive to Support Diversity For the second year, MIPCOM hosted the Diversify TV Excellence Awards with the support of A+E Networks. The Awards are dedicated to championing and promoting diversity and inclusion

MEDIA MASTERMIND KEYNOTE GONG YU, FOUNDER & CEO, IQIYI

in all forms across the international television industry. Personality of the Year, Issa Rae, took to the stage to hand over the award for Excellence in the Representation of Race and Ethnicity (scripted) to Actor, Writer, Director and Producer Diederick Santer of Kudos Film & Television for ‘Boy with the Topknot.’

MIPCOM’s popular Women in Global Entertainment Power Lunch, held in partnership with A+E Networks, brought together many of the most influential female figures in TV. Headline speaker, A+E Investigates’ acclaimed

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• Gong Yu, Founder and CEO of China’s giant video streaming platform iQIYI grabbed the attention of his audience by announcing that the platform intends to start originating content rather than simply buying shows. He noted that AI is transforming the platform’s approach to its 200 million subscribers by creating profiling systems to customise content for viewers.

• BBC Studios’ CEO Tim Davie reflected on the shift from the company being primarily a BBC programme supplier to new types of agreements with third parties such as the mini-series deal between BBC Studios and Netflix to make a new 3×90 mins

RICHARD GERE LAUNCH BBC SHOW MOTHERFATHERSON

host Elizabeth Vargas, noted “change is coming but we need to keep up the pressure.”

“Diversity and inclusion aren’t some kind of passing moment. They are central to The Big Shift. Inclusion, in all its forms, is essential in the entertainment industry and beyond. We are absolutely committed to using our events to promote and discuss diversity,” says Reed MIDEM’s Jerome Delhaye.

Mastermind Keynotes Chart Future MIPCOM 2018’s conference programme provided a 360° appraisal of today’s TV and digital sector with top executives from around the world.

• ITV CEO Carolyn McCall explained how her company is moving into the streaming marketplace next year.

The SVOD service will feature British-originated content. McCall noted that in SVOD, Netflix might be a competitor while also doing acquisition business with ITV Studios, notably on ‘Bodyguard.’

WOMEN IN GLOBAL ENTERTAINMENT POWER LUNCH

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pickle entertainment biz guide

MISS WORLD MEGAN YOUNG

version of ‘Dracula.’

• Twitter’s VP and Global Head of Content Partnerships, Kay Madati told delegates that his company is a partner to TV, not a disruptor. Supported by examples from A+E Networks, Viacom and Sky, Madati explained how Twitter’s engaged and influential audience can extend the reach of linear broadcast content.

• AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan promoted core values to his audience including the importance of great story-telling combined with great talent. Without naming the mega SVOD platforms, Sapan insisted that talent gets truly special treatment at AMC. “The range of the conference programme keynote subjects and the thought-leaders who shared their ideas, is testimony to the vigour of entertainment in a shifting environment,” comments Laurine Garaude. “We have traditional broadcast companies moving into SVOD. Online platforms are committing to production; AI is being used to deliver dedicated content to viewers. Everyone is trying to create great stories and attract top stars. The Big Shift is also about exciting new opportunities.”

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from the editor’s desk

W

e are happy to present the latest issue of Pickle for the delegates at the 39th American Film Market -- unarguably the biggest in North America. Over 7,000 industry leaders from more than 80 countries converge in Santa Monica for eight days of deal-making, screenings, conferences and networking.

AFM’s Location Expo, launched last year, is a great addition to the market bringing film commissioners and production service companies under one umbrella.

It has brought in a healthy competition among film commissions to pitch locales for filmmakers who have a script ready to bring it to screen at AFM. Over 40 Indian companies are present at AFM from all the media and entertainment verticals. Some of the fastest growing Indian media service companies are present here.

Their international business models offer global clients a single window entertainment service needs. Many companies are at AFM to distribute and syndicate content. Fox Star Stuidos is at AFM with half-a-dozen films from its 2019 catalogue.

The Indian media ecosystem is changing fast. There are few markets in the world where you could see both traditional and new media flourishing. The Over-the-

Top (OTT) space is gaining attraction (over 50 OTT players) in the Indian market with the presence of Hotstar, Voot, ErosNow, ZEE5, Sony Liv, Amazon Prime and Netflix among others. Over 2000 films are produced every year, 100,000 newspapers and periodicals, 950 TV channels, 185 million TV homes, 400 million smart phone users and over 600 million Internet users.

India has a huge room for growth for domestic media and entertainment companies as well as foreign media and film companies looking to tap the Indian market. Audio visual services is being recognised as a champion sector by the Government of India. The government policies are geared towards realising the full potential of the M&E sector -- providing an enabling environment lowering market barriers and propel growth.

If you are have plans to visit India, schedule it around the end of November to attend the 49th edition of International Film Festival of India, (IFFI) Goa and 7th edition of Confederation of Indian Industry’s Big Picture Summit on December 6-7 in New Delhi.

Pickle’s New Year issue will focus on India’s emerging influencers and game changers under 40 across media verticals.

n vidyasagar

pickle media nvidyasagar@picklemag.in, www.picklemag.com

Pickle Volume XII 3rd edition Published by Pickle Media Private Limited Email: natvid@gmail.com l Mumbai l Chennai No.2, Habib Complex Dr Durgabhai Deshmukh Road RA Puram CHENNAI 600 028

Printed by : Dotarts Pvt. Ltd., Kodambakkam Chennai-600 024

Editorial Coordinators : M Sai Email: natvid@gmail.com Photo Editor: K K Laskar

For advertising: natvid@gmail.com

C

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Pickle Business Guide 2018 Copyright 2018 by Pickle Media Pvt Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Pickle is an ad supported business guide tracking the filmed entertainment business in India.

pickle entertainment biz guide

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