UK Asian Film Festival (May 1-11) held a special day looking at how producers from the UK (and India) can avail themselves benefits from the co-production treaty signed by both countries…
🎥 UK Asian Film Festival heard from panel about the benefits of the co-production film treaty between UK and India
🎥 India has only recently increased incentives – now producers shooting and/or using Indian talent can obtain cash reimbursements when spending up to around a maximum of around £3 million (but only as much as 40 per cent of the total spend in India or on Indian talent and formally capped at $3.6m).
🎥 British writer-director Sandhya Suri made the award-winning ‘Santosh’ under the co-production treaty. It premiered in Cannes to great acclaim last year; won several awards and was Bafta and Oscar nominated. Shot in India and 100 per cent in Hindi, it is about a trainee woman cop (Santosh – Shahana Goswami) investigating a rape and murder of a teenage village girl in North India (state of Uttar Pradesh/UP). Was released in UK cinemas in late March this year and in France it racked up more than 100,000 in ticket sales.• Panel touched on censorship – ‘Santosh’ could not be released in India because Suri said the Central Board for Film Classification in India (CBFC) requested too many cuts and it meant compromising the integrity of her debut feature – the film tackles police brutality, Islamophobia, and caste discrimination, among many things. See our interviews with Suri and Goswami.
🎥 General consensus was that Censorship and political sensitivities in India may prove a challenge and is something you need to be aware of – scripts need to be submitted to the government agencies in India that deal with co-production treaty films – you can still film in India but won’t get co-production benefits…
🎥 Panel assessed three films projects -‘Another Cousin’s Wedding’ (Omar Khan writer, Samir Bhamra, director), ‘Lodge Töu Farr’ (Suman Hanif, writer-director) and ‘Raja’ (part CGI about an elephant and a young boy and set in colonial India at the turn of the last century, Pooja Chauhan, executive producer) – all at different stages and budgets – £1.5m; £700,00 and £10m, respectively.
🎥 On the panel were Agnieszka Moody, BFI International, Alastair Clark of Wellington Films which made ‘Sister Midnight’; Michelle Jenkins from Film London who spoke about how fledgling and aspiring producers are nurtured by the organisation. This panel was also joined by Deepti Chawla, an experienced producer based in Mumbai from Inflixious Content and Art India).
and Alastair Clark
All the panelists were upbeat about the opportunities available and Moody, who told www.asianculturevulture.com that she had been in Delhi for the launch of India’s World Audio-Visual Entertainment Summit (Waves) earlier this month, was impressed by the new positive environment for foreign filmmakers coming to India.
She said in the open panel session: “It was a very clear and loud statement from the government in India that this sector is of importance because that was under the patronage of the Prime Minister himself.”
She added: “India now wants to be an international player. And I think that message from the PM was not just to international delegates, but also to the Indian filmmaking community – that they should get more engaged in reaping the international benefits of working beyond Indian boundaries.”
Indian filmmakers were an integral part of ‘My Melbourne’ which was the Opening UKAFF Gala film and featured well-known Indian directors Kabir Khan, Imtiaz Ali, Rima Das, and Onir (whose ‘We are Faheem and Karun’, a romance between two men and set in Kashmir won the major UKAFF film award).
Moody also said there were opportunties for Indian filmmakers looking to make films in the UK or work with UK film talent.
The UK also offers incentives to foreign filmmakers and again as much as 40 per cent of expenditure on UK talent and/or locations and/or productions can be recouped.
Clark’s film, ‘Sister Midnight’ has just released in India itself across theatres today (May 23) and stars Radhika Apte, who is a star in the Indian indie sector. The film played to great acclaim last year in Cannes, where acv was among the first to see it. Kandhari’s film is unique and pathbreaking in some ways, smashing taboos and providing a surrealist edge from which more Indian filmmakers should take inspiration, we believe.
Clark talked about the benefits of attending Film Bazaar which is the market strand of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) which is held in Goa every November.
Amit Kaur, who very ably moderated the session and is also a filmmaker, said afterwards: “This pioneering event marks UKAFF’s growing commitment to nurturing a robust UK-India co-production ecosystem, connecting new voices with key platforms such as Film Bazaar India and Film London’s Production Finance Market. The foundation is set. The momentum is real. The future is collaborative.”
“The feedback from participants and industry guests was overwhelmingly positive — with a clear demand to expand this initiative into a formal co-production market in future editions.”
This was the second Future Forward event – it was inaugurated at last year’s UKAFF and this year’s took place at the BFI Southbank on May 10.
Top picture: Alastair Clark, Michelle Jenkins, Agnieszka Moody and Amit Kaur
All pictures: ©RaakeshKatwa & UKAFF2025
UK Asian Film Festival – https://www.tonguesonfire.com/news/ukaff-2025-open-for-submissions
