London Fest Makes Room For Bollywood Films

Bollywood films are to be featured  at the London Film Festival this year. Bollywood filmmakers in Cannes met up with organisers of the festival to explore the possibilities of showcasing Indian films. The festival is presented by the British Film Institute and is scheduled to begin on August 7.

"London Indian Film Week will demonstrate the Indian film industry's ability to bring its skill, artistry and growing international appeal to create fresh business opportunities and develop new audiences."

The problem faced by  Indian filmmakers is not lack of money but finding the right distribution network, either in India or the West. "We can do that for them," said Ian Thomson, managing director of DDA Consulting, who will be representing Indian filmmakers. Thomson got to know the Indian film scene when he worked for the UK Film Council.

"This unique showcase will for the first time demonstrate the high quality and wide variety of films increasingly being produced in India"

He said London Indian Film Week has "been borne out of rapidly growing interest in the diversity of new Indian cinema that breaks the perceived image of Asian filmmaking being specialised fare primarily for the international Asian community".

Thomson said: "Over the last few years, Indian films have become increasingly popular with non-Asian audiences but they have, until now, been typified by the traditional Bollywood image. This unique showcase will for the first time demonstrate the high quality and wide variety of films increasingly being produced in India that encompasses both traditional and new innovative filmmaking styles."

The event will be organised by DDA Consulting, part of DDA Public Relations. Founded 35 years ago in London by Dennis Davidson, the firm is the consultancy of choice for many US film studios (including Miramax, Universal, Focus, New Line, HBO, and Walden) as well as for many other filmmakers, distributors and sales agents around the world.