Re-INKarnation

PROJECT TITLE: Re-INKarnation

TYPE: Feature length

STAGE: In Production

COUNTRY: India

LANGUAGE: Uipo, Meiteilon, Tangkhul, English, Hindi

RUNTIME: 75 minutes

PRESENTED BY: Bobo Khuraijam (Director/Producer)

DIRECTOR/PRODUCER BIO:

Bobo Khuraijam is a close observer of human stories. He loves poetry and creative non-fiction. An independent filmmaker, whose film Ima Sabitri (2016) won him the Silver Conch award in the 15th Mumbai International Film Festival. The film was the opening film of the Indian Panorama section in the 47th International Film Festival of India, Goa, besides winning the Satyajit Ray Golden Award for Best Documentary in the South Asian Short Film Festival, 2018. He juggles his vocation between filmmaking and journalism. He is also with the Editorial Collective of www.yendai.org, an e-literary journal.

PRODUCTION COMPANY: Masek Mangal Film

LOGLINE:

A maverick artist attempts to build a bridge between the past and the present by trailing through the ancient marks of indigenous tattoo.

SYNOPSIS:

Reclaiming a lost identity – reclaiming a lost pride of an indigenous community. Connecting the dots of ancient artistic expressions of the ancestors for posterity. Conviction of an artist who follows his dream. And going back to nature. As the title of the project ‘Re-INKarnation’ suggest, the character of the film, MO NAGA embarks on a journey to reclaim his community’s cultural heritage. The indigenous tattoo which has been eclipsed by the sermons of the Colonial missionaries is a treasure trove of cultural knowledge and aesthetic expressions. It is MO NAGA’s conviction that by reviving the indigenous tattoo he is ‘decolonizing’ his tribe. The global community of ancient tattoo practitioners and researchers keenly follow MO NAGA’s work. It is apparent that there was a rich knowledge system intertwined with the tattooing tradition of the eastern parts of India. By closely following the character’s journey, the process of unearthing an ancient knowledge system, its trials and tribulations will be carefully depicted. The tattoo village that he dreams to build will be a unique bio-diversity hub. In order to realise his dream MO NAGA has to race against time.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT:

The eastern part of India, where I am born, is a vibrant, shifting and evolving cultural mosaic. Different ethnicities thrive together with varied aspirations and stories of cinematic potentials. Having grown up listening to fireside stories narrated by elders of a community endowed with rich oral tradition, I am always intrigued by the lore of the past. Sometimes stories over-spill community boundaries. ReINKarnation is a lyrical-observational documentary film, shot in cinéma vérité style from an intimate distance. Re-INKarnation will illuminate a forgotten world. It will give window to the audience of how a vibrant language was muted, and how it will be revived and give a dignified place it deserves. ReINKarnation will also demystify the delusions associated with ancient tattoos and its bearers, particularly of the eastern part of Indian provinces.

LOOKING FOR: Co-producer, Funding, Broadcast/platform acquisition/commission.

TOTAL BUDGET (USD): $86,667

SECURED BUDGET (USD): N/A

DIRECTOR FILMOGRAPHY:

Life After Director feature documentary; Ima Sabitri Director feature documentary; .Lockdown Diorama feature documentary

TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/688494229

CONTACT:

Bobo Khuraijam – leipung@gmail.com

Harvest Moon

PROJECT TITLE: Harvest Moon

TYPE: Feature length or TV one-off (41 mins or longer)

STAGE: In Production

COUNTRY: Jordan

LANGUAGE: Arabic, English

RUNTIME: 75 minutes

PRESENTED BY: Rama Ayasra, Asmahan Bkerat, Mariam Salim

DIRECTOR BIO:

Rama studied Digital Filmmaking at SAE institute - Amman and got her Bachelor Degree from Middlesex University London. During her studies; Rama wrote and directed six short films. Her works include "Nos Lera” and “Crowded Sakeb” which was awarded the audience prize at the Franco-Arab Film Festival in 2018. Her short narrative “Cadence of the Valley” has participated in 20 international film festivals winning more than 10 awards. After working as producer and director of “Tales of Cinema” show on AlAraby TV, she recently produced “Closure” short film, while also working on several documentary projects including her debut feature “Harvest Moon”.

PRODUCER BIO:

Asmahan Bkerat is a Palestinian-Jordanian documentary filmmaker. She started her career as a photographer and social justice advocate. Bkerat’s first short documentary “Badrya'' won the Jury Prize for Best MiniDoc at the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival. She is currently working on her first feature- length documentary “CONCRETE LAND” and producing the feature doc “HARVEST MOON”. She is an alumna of Sundance, IDFA, DFI, SDI, The Whickers, The American Film Showcase, Cannes Docs in progress, Dhaka doc lab, Doc Edge, AIDC and the RFC.

Mariam Salim is an Iraqi Filmmaker based in Qatar, she works in Film, Art and TV projects. collaborating with Qatar Museums, Al Rayyan TV, and the Doha Film Institute, she showcases her talent both independently and alongside renowned organizations. For the past four years, Mariam has been producing local documentary series for Qatar Media Corporation. Her passion is to empower independent voices and collaborate with talented directors. Her Arabian Fantasy screenplay "By The Cave” earned a Rawi fellowship in 2016 from the RFC and Sundance. Currently, Mariam is producing the feature documentary "Harvest Moon” in Jordan.

PRODUCTION COMPANY: (N/A)

LOGLINE:

Wheat cultivation is getting extinct in its original homeland, Jordan. An elderly farmer’s wisdom and pastoral culture are unveiled through a quest for food sovereignty.

SYNOPSIS:

Ancient pastoral culture is disappearing in the original homeland of wheat, Jordan, where the oldest piece of bread in the world was found. With every passing day, importation policies are erasing people's ability to grow their own staple food, wheat. In the Jordanian countryside, little rain reaches Abu Tareq, an elderly shepherd who farms a land that he rents and doesn’t own, with wisdom and spirituality passed on through generations of growing grains in the region. As the best lands for agriculture lay in the middle of the expanding city. Rabee and Lama, work with families and friends to farm fields between buildings in the capital Amman, facing the obstacles of urbanization and governmental policies that have led to the complete dependency on imported wheat. The two activists are on a mission to bring Jordanian wheat back to the tables, before its near extinction. Their friend Mohammad Abu Jeyyab leaves his job as an engineer in America to become a farmer and gathers funding for them from abroad, to open the first mill for local wheat as the country today lacks proper seed processing infrastructure. They start selling the local wheat harvest commercially in the market, establishing a community around wheat, of people, bakeries and restaurants demanding food sovereignty. Harvest Moon witnesses a new generation of hope, discovering and reviving authentic culture created through connection to the land.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT:

The film explores the spiritual, poetic aspects of the culture of growing wheat, with the Harvest Moon as a witness of the events that push the story forward, like an ancient observer from a heavenly point of view. My grandfather was a farmer, but I have never met him as he died before I was born. However, I have always heard stories about his wisdom and compassionate heart, a way of life that is learnt from working in the land. Though I grew up in the city, since childhood, nature has always been a place where my imagination expands, and a sense of magic can be felt. Abu Tareq reminds me of my grandfather, even in the way he looks. Because I see my ancestors’ heritage in him and his world, I want to make this film. The activists’ quest gives us access to that world with the hope of bringing it back in this new generation of youth.

LOOKING FOR: Funding, Gap Financing, Editor, Broadcast/platform acquisition/commission, Distribution, Executive Producer, Co-Production, Sales Agent.

TOTAL BUDGET (USD): $215,000

SECURED BUDGET (USD):

Jordan Film Fund - Production Grant $28,000; AFAC - Production Grant $20,000; SAE institute - Amman In Kind Equipment Support $15,000 ; Thessaloniki Pitching Forum - Main Pitch Award $2,000; Scottish Documentary Institute - Development Fund $1,000; Dok Forum Munich - Music Composition Award

$2,700

DIRECTOR FILMOGRAPHY:

Closure Producer Short Film https://vimeo.com/805521991?share=copy Password: Closure2022; Cadence of the Valley Writer and Director short filmhttps://vimeo.com/400667085 Password:

COTV2020; Crowded Sakeb Director short documentary https://youtu.be/1EYcrJvZJgc ; Nos Lera Writer and Director short film https://youtu.be/cnzrl_BnqLo; Escape to Imagination Writer and Director silent short film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LglZVBzDAbA

TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/827683903/ea611f39e6?share=copy

CONTACT:

Rama Ayasra rama.obeid98@gmail.com

Asmahan Bkerat bk.asmahan@gmail.com

Until the Buzzing Stops

PROJECT TITLE: Until the Buzzing Stops

TYPE: Feature length

STAGE: In pre-production

COUNTRY: United Kingdom

LANGUAGE: Arabic, English

RUNTIME: 90 minutes

PRESENTED BY: Janay Boulos and Abd al-Kader Habak

DIRECTOR BIO:

Syrian cinematographer who worked in Syria during and filmed six years of the conflict. He worked with international broadcasters like BBC News and CNN as a cameraman and field producer. After living the siege of Aleppo, he fled to the UK in 2017 where he’s building a career as a documentary filmmaker. His first documentary, Her Stories, premiered in 2021 and is now on an impact campaign. His first feature documentary Until the Buzzing Stops is participating at IDFA Project Space 2023 and he’s developing a short documentary The Evacuator of Idlib, that participated in One World Media GSDF 2023.

PRODUCER BIO:

Lebanese journalist and producer who worked for the past 10 years for BBC News. She has experience across news, TV, digital production, and field production. With director Abd al-Kader Habak, she set up Habak Films which works between Lebanon and London and is producing Habak's feature documentary Until the Buzzing Stops, and short documentary The Evacuator of Idlib, amongst other projects in development. She works as an impact producer on two feature documentaries, Son of the Streets and Being Hijra which is participating in Movies That Matter Take On Film And Impact Lab 2023.

PRODUCTION COMPANY: Habak Films, Vrai Vrai Films

LOGLINE:

Can bees, a camera and a newfound friendship turn a traumatic past into a prosperous future?

SYNOPSIS:

Filmmaker Habak and beekeeper Ali are connected through their experience as refugees trying to rebuild their lives in the UK, from leaving behind a deadly war in Syria to a new world of living with PTSD. In London, Habak resorts to using his camera to make sense of the new reality and complex emotions. The frame helps him express as it used to in Syria. Once his camera pointed at Ali, he realised that his loneliness and confusion are shared with someone else. Ali’s bees serve the same purpose as Habak’s camera, they remind Ali of his family’s farm in Damascus. So, Ali and Habak go on a journey using familiar things from their past to work through re-understanding the world they once thought they knew. Struggling with survivor’s guilt and trauma from the war in Syria, both Habak and Ali get together to try and create intention through their work to heal and help refugees like them who face the same difficulties. Capturing a newfound friendship on camera, we watch these new companions help each other with their respective outlets as they deal with their past and attempt to move from it to build a better future.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT:

After living through the revolution and war in Syria, I thought that when I arrived in the UK my war would end but I was wrong. As war survivours, after being forced to leave our countries, we begin to suffer PTSD and survivors guilt which stop us from creating a new life. It can take years to overcome these difficulties. I have been through this, Ali has, too, and most refugees, Syrian or other, need support to find a job, learn the language, make friends and move on from the past. We’re seeing across the West stricter policies against refugees and asylum seekers, especially in the UK where I live. I’m making this film to highlight that refugees are not a burden to society, they are not after stealing money or jobs, but they want a safe life and basic rights. And by telling my story and Alis’s I will be telling a global stories that address what happens to refugees after they reach safety and what the role of society and politicians is in this regard.

LOOKING FOR: Broadcast/platform acquisition/commission, Distribution, Executive Producer, Funding, Sales Agent

TOTAL BUDGET (USD): $418,098

SECURED BUDGET (USD): Private Investment - USD $30,000

DIRECTOR FILMOGRAPHY:

Her Stories Director feature documentary, , Habak, Director Al Jazeera Investigations Documentary

TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/776562497

CONTACT:

Janay Boulos janay@habakfilms.com

Abd al Kader Habak abd@habakfilms.com

If you require any information about the projects, please contact the filmmakers of the pitch projects.