Projects by "Chauthi Koot" fame Gurvinder Singh, "Kohrra" helmer Randeep Jha and "Lipstick Under My Burkha" director Alankrita Shrivastava will be showcased at the CIFF Market to be held on the sidelines of the inaugural Cinevesture International Film Festival.
The film gala, which will take place in Chandigarh from March 27– 31, will present 17 feature films and three web series.
The line-up includes six fiction feature debuts such as "Sacred" by Deepa Bhatia, "19" by Vikas Chandra, "LalitA" by Disha Rindani, "Tigdi aka 3-SUM" by Roopal Kewalya, "Laali" by Fahad Mustafa, and "Dhundh Saleti" by Jasmine Kaur and Avinash Roy.
Namrata Joshi, CIFF Market curator, said class divides and conflicts is a running theme through some of the selected projects and host state Punjab is under focus, be it in terms of talent or backdrop.
"From those requiring funding for research and script development to those with scripts locked and ready to roll. The majority of the projects are by women. And/or women-focused... Queer identity issues also find space.
"The selection cuts across genres—there’s action, thrillers (corporate, police procedurals), drama (human, social, political, coming of age), a folk and mythology-based tale but with a modern spin, epic narrative spanning decades, whimsical romance, and comedy too. Horror makes a striking presence in the selection. That too imagined and created by women. With profound underlying thematic layers," Joshi said in a statement.
Jha, who made his feature debut with "Halahal" and has directed critically-acclaimed shows such as "Trial By Fire" and "Kohrra", is coming up with "April Mein Shootout", about a placid academic who vows revenge after his brother is killed in farm dispute but starts to uncover sinister truths about his own family.
Shrivastava has adapted Lindsay Pereira's "Gods and Ends" into "Girls of Orlem". Set in the Goan Catholic ghetto of Orlem in Mumbai, the film is described as an intimate and piercing portrait of a mother and daughter, the film also tells a larger tale of the claustrophobia and broken dreams of the ghetto.
Bhatia, a noted film editor, is making her feature debut with "Sacred", a saga spanning several decades. The story is about four dramatically different women on the cusp of motherhood.
The latest offering by Anurag Singh, best known for "Jatt and Juliet", is "Encounter" that revolves around a newly appointed Punjab DSP who is trying to unravel the mystery behind the killings of his late cop father's colleagues.
Atika Chohan, known for writing films such as "Chhapaak", "Guilty" and "Agra", is coming up with "Husky", an eat-the-rich drama, revolving around privileged couple's pet husky, Jordon.
"Peach No 15" by Ayappa KM, is a darkly funny thriller series about Indra, a conscientious workaholic woman, caught in the middle of a massive clusterf*** of corporate gluttony that will fracture her morality to the core.
"The Bookkeeper's Wife", by Bauddhayan Mukherji, revolves around a deceased Bookkeeper's wife who uncovers secrets that leave her questioning whether she knew the man she thought she knew.
Bhaskar Hazarika, known for "Aamis", is directing "#JACK", whose logline reads: "An unmarked grave. A missing groom. And a cop who won't give up." Rindani is directing "LalitA", a feature on police constable Lalit Salve who was mistakenly assigned the female sex at birth and took on the journey to reclaim his identity.
"Chhaal" by Don Palathara ("Family") is based on folk writer Vijaydan Detha’s story.
Mustafa, who made "Katiyabaaz", is making his fiction debut with "Laali", a story about how an upscale Delhi neighbourhood is rattled when a domestic worker insists on digging their patch of green to retrieve the body of her murdered child.
Gurvinder Singh is set to showcase "The Trials", a historcial thriller web series.
"Set in 1930 Lahore, as Durga Devi and her husband prepare a bomb that will set their comrade Bhagat Singh free, we see the story of the trials, tests and tribulations of these heroic revolutionaries as they take direct action against British rule," read the synopsis of the show.
Another series in the fold is Kimsi Singh's "Schooled Abroad", which follows the life of five students from different parts of India with diverse backgrounds and cultures in Canada.
Chandra's coming-of-age debut feature "19" is also part of the CIFF market. It revolves around three friends navigating the last years of their teens.
"Miss Kumari" by Jain is a whimsical romance between a sales lady at an emporium and a baker from Lakshadweep.
"I.T.A." by Vandana Kataria, who worked as production designer on Dibakar Banerjee's films including "Shanghai", is in the horror genre. It is a modern retelling of Henry James’ classic "The Turn of the Screw".
"Dhundh Saleti" or "The Whispering Fog" marks the directorial debut of Kaur and Roy. The drama is set in the terror-stricken Punjab of the late 1980s where Roop Sandhu, a radio programmer and a single mother, struggles to balance her personal and professional life. "Tigdi aka 3-SUM" is Kewalya's debut film, billed as an "un chick flick" which explores themes of sexuality, stigma and freedom.
"To Hell With Love", a romance drama by Bangladeshi filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki ("Doob: No Bed of Roses", "No Land's Man"), is also part of the line-up.
Nihaarika Naegi's "Feral" is an elevated horror film set in 1950s India, where a sadomasochist English Madame has raised two indigenous community sisters to be her servants on a withering colonial estate.
"But the arrival of Madame’s latest lover – a singer/shaman scholar - changes the alchemy of the estate, as the sisters slowly transgress - reclaiming their wild, mystical selves," the festival said.
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