Sandhya Suri, a British-Indian filmmaker, has won the award for the best first feature film at the Jerusalem Film Festival (JFF) 2024.

Suri’s film 'Santosh', shot in India with a local cast, revolves around a female police official who has been given a job on compassionate grounds after her husband's death, and how she unwittingly gets caught in a web of local social and political drama that she has no control over.

The shows of the film have so far been house full as also of the other Indian entry, award-winning film 'All we Imagine as Light', Anat, an India enthusiast, told PTI on Friday.

Anat said after the screening of 'Santosh' that both the Indian entries “are fabulous with actors backing up the intense plots with astonishing ease”.

'Santosh' was co-produced by India and availed the incentives under the Incentives Scheme of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

'All We Imagine as Light', the Grand Prix award-winning Indian film at the Cannes Film Festival this year, also drew house-full audiences at the JFF with the organisers lauding the warm response to Indian entries at the festival.

"I am proud to say that both the Indian entries -- All We Imagine as Light and Santosh -- are completely sold out. It is also great to see that both the films have been directed by women", a JFF official said at an event organised jointly with the Indian embassy before the screening last Saturday.

'All We Imagine as Light' is a co-production film involving companies from several countries but the storyline and cast are India-centric.

Written and directed by Payal Kapadia, the film scripted history by winning the Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival and drawing worldwide praise for the gentle depiction of a touching human subject.

Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha and Chhaya Kadam played the lead roles in the film depicting the lives of Kerala nurses working in a Mumbai hospital.

The Indian Embassy, in association with JFF, also held a session on "Incentives for Filming in India" on Saturday ahead of the screening to lure Israeli filmmakers to shoot their films and documentaries in India and to strengthen collaboration between the two sides.

Over 100 film enthusiasts, including filmmakers, attended the event to understand the various incentives available for co-productions or filmmaking in India.

A short video enlisting the strengths of the Indian film industry - the oldest and largest with a huge pool of resources, exceptional filming talent, 900 plus animation, visual effects, gaming and other facilities and over 1.8 lakh professionals - was screened at the event.

"Ten per cent of the global animators and VFX artists are from India. 170 plus international projects from 35 countries with a diverse range of production and post-production requirements have taken advantage of India's diverse and varied locations... Vast local talent pool and availability of state-of-the-art equipment and facilities" were some of the information shared with film enthusiasts to encourage them to look towards India as a destination for their next subject or collaboration.

To further boost international content collaborations, the government of India has now significantly enhanced the cash incentives offered to foreign production companies for the production of films in India and for official co-productions, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian embassy, Rajiv Bodwade, told the audience.

Bodwade outlined the cashback incentives offered by GOI and various state governments, including possible tax rebates.

"There is a readily available ecosystem and you can easily find a talent pool of technicians, crew members, audio-visual facilities, and various locations ready for filming", he stressed.

Under the scheme for foreign productions, up to 40 per cent of the expenses incurred in India subject to a cap of USD 3.6 million can be reimbursed to the producers. This is a 12-fold increase from what was offered earlier.

"The reimbursement is also available for projects that undertake only post-production, visual effects and digital or animation work in India. The process for claiming such incentives has now been simplified further. If the project has been granted official co-production status under any of the existing bilateral treaties, 30 per cent of the qualifying expense can be reimbursed subject to a cap of Rs 300 million. The co-producers can also claim up to 50 per cent of the approved amount as interim reimbursement after the start of the project in India", the video presenting the incentives narrated.

"Top this up with the incentives offered by various Indian states and the producers can avail of approximately USD 4 million as incentives. Film Facilitation Office (FFO) has been set up to provide a single window permission clearance system under the government's ease of doing business initiative which facilitates creative collaboration on a global stage," it further said.

India has co-production agreements with 16 countries, including Israel, and Bodwade announced that the first such collaboration involving renowned Israeli filmmaker, Dan Wolman, is completed and about to be released soon.

Wolman's film, "The Murderer with the Purple Hair", a thriller, Co-directed by Indian filmmaker, Manju Bora, was shot in Assam.

It stars Shamin Mannan and Siddhart Goswami with Seema Biswas and Adil Hussain in guest roles.

Sharing his experience with the audience, Wolman said that "all the papers were prepared very swiftly by the FFO office and the Israeli Ministry of Culture".

"Guwahati sounds peripheral but we came there and found out that the equipment - cameras, lighting, recording is top-notch. Not in any way less than the kind of equipment that you find in New York, Paris or Tel Aviv," the Israeli filmmaker said.

"And the crew, Assamese photographers, all the other professionals and even the creative intellectual discussions I would say were a fantastic experience. The crew in India made us feel at home. They made us feel like a family", Wolman emphasised.

Yaron Kastori, another Israeli filmmaker present at the event, told PTI that he is looking to collaborate with Indian producers on a project that he has been working on and it is of help to learn about the various incentives being offered.

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