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  • Third London Indian Film Fest from 20 June

    Third London Indian Film Fest from 20 June

    MUMBAI: The London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) is set to return for the third year from 20 June to 3 July. The two-week event will screen Bollywood as well as regional and alternative cinema from India.

    “The festival brings to UK audiences a selection of cutting edge films from some of India‘s hottest independent talents,” said a LIFF statement. “Going way beyond Bollywood, these are films that challenge, shock, generate debate and present a more realistic view of India today in all its colour and diversity.”

    Anurag Kashyap‘s Gangs of Wasseypur will have its premiere on the opening night. The film centres around warring mafia clans clashing for power and passion in the steel belt towns of Bihar in Northern India.

    This year’s festival will also include world premieres of two UK Asian films including Tooting Broadway on 22 June and the UK premiere of Srijit Mukherji’s Baishey Shrabon (Seventh August) on 3 July, the closing day.

    The Satyajit Ray Foundation has joined the Festival with a ‘Short Film’ competition in which the winning filmmaker will receive a ?1,000 award on 3 July.

  • Two Indian docus at Sheffield Intl Fest

    Two Indian docus at Sheffield Intl Fest

    MUMBAI: Sheffield International Documentary Festival 2012 will screen two Indian films this year.

    They are Anand Patwardhan‘s Jai Bhim Comrade and Dylan Mohan Gray‘s Fire in the Blood. The festival will be held from 13 to 17 June in Sheffield, UK.

    While Patwardhan‘s Jai Bhim Comrade is an epic eye-opener for those who are unfamiliar with India‘s severe caste discrimination, Fire in the Blood is an 84-minute documentary in English, Hindi, Manipuri and Xhosa. Fire in the Blood examines the battle that a number of inspiring players – including the government of India – waged to level the playing field for AIDS sufferers.

    Launched in 1994, it is one of the biggest international documentary festivals in the world.

  • Indian cricket fans have tribal passion akin to mature soccer markets: Study

    Indian cricket fans have tribal passion akin to mature soccer markets: Study

    MUMBAI: The cricket fan base in India is very homogeneous, making it easier for advertisers to address a mass nationwide reach.

    There is another deeper benefit for marketers taking to cricket, a research by Octagon Worldwide pointed out. Unlike the UK where Test and T20 cricket had inherent brand images that are diametrically opposed, in India the perceived image profile of T20 is very much aligned with Test cricket. This makes it easier for Indian sponsors to create an effective and efficient consumer-relevant pan-cricket activation plan.

    Test cricket fans have a similar tribal passion that is found in mature European and South American football markets. The overall Test cricket fan profile proved to be very tribal, with a clearly defined hierarchy of factors.

    Said Octagon Worldwide chief strategy officer Simon Wardle, “Team devotion is the primary factor behind the passions of India‘s Test cricket fans. In fact, in many ways it is similar to the tribal Passion Drivers profiles that we have found for football in mature European and South American football markets. However, it was very different to the Passion Driver factors revealed by similar studies in England, South Africa and Australia where there was no dominant factor.”

    Cricket offers tremendous activation opportunities that Indian marketers can leverage upon. “We identified four different types of cricket fans and three of those four fan typologies had Team Devotion as the number one factor. This high indexing of the Team Devotion factor is good news for Indian marketers using test cricket as a marketing platform since it suggests activation strategies leveraging team assets and equities will resonate best with test cricket fans,” said Simon Wardle.

    Research among India‘s avid cricket fans conducted recently by sports marketing firm Octagon Worldwide aims at increasing the understanding of the cricket fan base and offers positive, actionable insights for marketers using the sport as a platform to reach their consumers.

    The latest findings result from Octagon‘s Passion Drivers research initiative that enables sponsors to develop compelling and relevant sponsorship leveraging programmes based on a quantified understanding of why fans are so passionate about their favorite sports.

    Wardle, the creator of Passion Drivers, said that the research examined both Test cricket and the Indian Premier League (IPL).
    Cricket‘s ability to attract corporate sponsors is not surprising. Said  , “By understanding what drives cricket fans‘ passions and how that, in turn, shapes their attachment and desire for products, corporate cricket sponsors can focus not just on generic fans, applying â€?one-size-fits-all activations, but can focus on the factors that will truly motivate fan behaviour.”

    Octagon began its proprietary research into sports fans‘ passion seven years ago and has since studied some 75,000 avid fans of over 30 sports in 13 countries. The Team Devotion factor is one of 12 primary factors that drive fan passion for sports, and is defined as, fans‘ love for their team bordering on obsession and unquestioned loyalty.

    Other factors include:

    Active Appreciation: Fans‘ ability to call upon personal experience playing the game now or at some point in their lives.

    All Consuming: Power of the sport to draw the fan in to the point where nothing else matters while the game is being played.

    Gloating: Appeal of reveling in the agony of rival fans when their team loses.

    Personal Indulgence: Sport is seen as a selfish reward—an excuse for “me time.”

    Player Affinity: Fans‘ interest in relating to sports stars as people. Player Excitement: Pure hero worship and admiration for their
    athleticism and skills.

    Love of the Game: Pure enjoyment of the sport and competition regardless of who is playing or who wins or loses.

    Nostalgia: Combines the history of the sport and personal recollections of watching the sport growing up.

    Sense of Belonging: Being part of a group of like-minded fans (of the same team).

    TV Preference: How fans prefer to follow the sport. TV often provides a more satisfying experience than attending in person or participating.

    Talk and Socialising: Sport as a topic of conversation and a means to build friendships.

    The importance of these factors in terms of the degree to which they contribute to fan passion varies significantly from sport to sport and based on this study, Octagon has discovered that a sport‘s fan base in a particular country can include fans that follow the sport for very different reasons.

    “With this new insight, corporate sponsors of cricket in India can build unique, relevant compelling leveraging programs that connect to the passions of their customers,” Wardle concluded.

  • Memento Films picks up US rights of Lore

    Memento Films picks up US rights of Lore

    MUMBAI: The distribution rights of forthcoming film Lore by Australian director Cate Shortland, set in the aftermath of World War Two Germany, for the US has been picked up by Music Box through France-based international sales agent Memento Films.

    The film, an adaptation of Rachel Seiffert‘s The Dark Room is the story of Lore, a young German girl who must get her four younger siblings to her grandmother on the other side of the country after her Nazi parents are arrested by Allied Forces
    Lore is a co-production between Australia, Germany and the UK, produced by the Australian Porchlight Film‘s Liz Watts as well as British producer Paul Welsh and German producers Karsten Stoter and Benny Drechsel.
    Averred Watts, “I‘ve not worked with Music Box before, but we‘re keen to be in their catalogue. They‘ve done a lot of foreign films like they did the release of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”

    She said the size of the release in the US would depend on the launch of the film internationally. “We will work with Memento in regards to presenting it. It is German language film in a US market. It will be an appropriate release,” she added.
    Internationally, the film has also sold into Benelux to ABC, Brazil to Mares Filmes, to South Korea‘s Linetree, Isreal‘s Lev and to Colombia/Central America‘s Cineplex.

  • The Huger Games tops overseas grossing $59.3 mn

    The Huger Games tops overseas grossing $59.3 mn

    MUMBAI: Already a box office superhit in the US and Canada, Lionsgate produced The Hunger Games opened on the foreign theatrical circuit grossing $59.3 million at around 7,700 locations in 67 offshore markets.

    Overseas, the action/sci-fi vehicle opened as the weekend‘s No. 1 after the films‘ foreign opening was said to be the year‘s second biggest opening; nearly $10 million less than the March 11 debut weekend gross of Disney‘s John Carter at 51 locations.

    Starring Jennifer Lawrence as a 6-year-old heroine who fights to survive a last-person standing contest, Games registered dominant No. 1 market introductions in Australia via Roadshow ($9.69 million at some 260 sites) and in the U.K. via Lionsgate ($7.49 million from some 515 situations).

    Leading the non-English-speaking markets was Russia where The Hunger Games grossed $6.5 million. The No. 1 France debut via Metropolitan Filmexport kicked in $3.75 million from about 400 locations while Germany via Studio Canal contributed even more, $3.9 million from 610 sites.

    Based on the first book of Suzanne Collin‘s popular trilogy about kids killing kids in a dystopian future, Games drew a worldwide opening gross of $214.3 million.

    Debuts in Italy, South Korea and Spain will take place next month while the film‘s Japan opening is scheduled for September.

    On the other hand, Disney International‘s Carter, that was the No. 1 overseas for the last two rounds, grossed $22.2 million on the weekend in 54 territories that is more than four times its domestic tally. Carter dropped to fourth place in key markets like Australia, Germany, Spain and South Korea. It finished No. 7 in the U.K., No. 8 in Italy and No. 9 in France.

    Finishing No. 3 on the weekend was Fox International‘s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel which picked up steam on the foreign circuit with openings in about a dozen markets, highlighted by a No. 2 Australia debut, which produced $3.75 million from 288 screens.

    Weekend gross overall for the comedy-drama about British pensioners in India came to $8.26 million drawn from 1,859 sites in 18 markets. Foreign cume stands at $33.3 million. Hotel opens domestically on May 4.

  • London Paris New York’s overseas BO collections

    London Paris New York’s overseas BO collections

    MUMBAI: London Paris New York has collected $53,535 in the US, ?32,538 in UK and $112,000 in the Middle East in its opening weekend, Fox Studios India said.

    According to Indiantelevision.com‘s estimates, the movie that released on 2 March netted Rs 34 million in India in its first weekend. The Anu Menon-directed film starring Ali Zafar and Aditi Rao Hydari released on 2 March.

    Produced by Goldie Behl under his banner Rose Movies, the film has been distributed by Fox Star Studios, India.

    Said Fox Studios India CEO Vijay Singh, “London Paris New York is a small budget film that was targeted at a niche audience. We are happy that the film is being so well received, especially by audiences it was made for – having kept the budget under control, we‘ve managed to deliver on that front and we couldn‘t be more excited.”

  • ‘We are adequately funded by New Silk Route’ : 9X Media business head- new business Punit Pandey

    ‘We are adequately funded by New Silk Route’ : 9X Media business head- new business Punit Pandey

    9X Media has seen its share of ups and downs. Launched in 2007 as INX Media by Peter and Indrani Mukerjea, the company started with a Hindi general entertainment channel 9X, a music channel 9XM and later an English news channel NewsX.

     

    Then came the economic slowdown and coupled with problems at management level and fund crisis, the Indian promoters exited after selling off the English news channel.

     

    The new management had a huge task: to reduce debt and turnaround. INX Media sold off 9X to Zee and started focussing on its only success – 9XM.

     

    Today, with a new name, 9X Media, the company has four channels under its ambit. It has also relaunched in the UK.

     

    Indiantelevision.com’s Gaurav Laghate caught up with 9X Media‘s business head- new business Punit Pandey to talk about the turnaround of the company and how it plans to grow further.

     

    Excerpts:

    INX Media was into losses and your Indian promoters exited. Why did New Silk Route agree to fund the music channels while the Hindi GEC 9X was sold to Zee?
    The Hindi GEC did not work and we decided to concentrate all our energies, time and investments on 9XM as it was doing very well right from its day of launch. The turnaround story was around 9XM. NSR as a private equity partner, along with others, assured faith in not only the product but also in the management team.

     

    Fortunately for us and 9XM, they continued to show faith in us. And obviously, we are backed by a strong product and a strong revenue stream as a business model.

     

    NSR continues to partner and fund us and we have delivered on what we were supposed to. Today, we are a zero debt company and adequately funded.

     

    With their funding support, we have launched three more channels over the last seven months. We launched Punjabi music channel Tashan in August, first Marathi music channel Jhakaas in October and recently Jalwaa. We have also relaunched 9XM in UK.

    Weren‘t you planning to first launch the Bengali music channel in the regional space. Why didn‘t it happen?
    While you are at a business plan state, you obviously think of so many things. But if you look at it, we have managed to consolidate 9XM, which is our flagship brand. Then we have also launched three more channels and UK feed.

    And what about the performance of these channels?
    Well, the Punjabi channel has replicated 9XM‘s success across the PHCHP (Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh) region and has achieved leadership status in the first week of its launch. So, it has become our second winning product.

     

    Jhakaas and 9XM UK also have been received well. And though Jalwaa was launched just last week, we are getting tremendous response not just from trade but also from consumers that it is looking well.

     

    So we have five operating products.

    But Marathi channel has not picked up yet?
    Jhakaas is not only Maharashtra‘s but India‘s first Marathi music channel. Since it is the only music player, it has been received well. But if your benchmark is going to be what Tashan has achieved in Punjabi, it is never going to be there.

     

    Maharashtra, as a region, is 800 GRP market, and bulk of it is from general entertainment – Marathi as well as Hindi. It is followed by movies and news. And if you see, we have not launched just a channel, but a genre. There was no Marathi music channel before Jhakaas.

     

    Being the first music channel, viewers have to get used to watching a music channel. Considering that, it is doing well as per our expectations. We are interacting with people, and they are liking it. To my view, it has opened well. There is scope to grow.
    “West Bengal is a big market. So is Bhojpuri. But that doesn’t mean that we will launch everywhere. Let’s see, you will hear from us once we are ready to launch“

    Talking about the business model, all your channels are FTA and only advertising lead. No plans for other revenue streams?
    India currently is an ad-led business model and this applies to our channels as well. A large part of our revenue is from advertising, but we have also ventured into selling our merchandise through ecommerce.

     

    We have to build the category. So, we have started merchandising and we have a very strong online presence.

    You have been very bullish on the digital front and all your channels have live streaming. Why?
    Currently, all our offerings and channels are in music space and large part of music consumption also happens on the online platform. So it is important that as a product we are present across all platforms, not just television but online and mobile also.

     

    The idea is to reach out to your consumers, whoever they are and wherever they are and online cuts across that bet.

     

    Online is a very important medium for us and is very visible. We are on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, everywhere.

    But can it be monetised?
    As I said, we have already started ecommerce website; this is our first initiative. And as we move on, we will have revenue lines attached to it also.

     

    But yes, our business is driven by, and will continue to be driven by advertising.

    How will you differentiate between the business models of all the channels?
    Well, all our channels have a business plan and we ensure that we continuously monitor and follow it. That‘s how you see more new products.

     

    Each new product brings in a lot of confidence as to how the product is delivering from the content and business perspective. And that is how you move ahead.

    Which all regional markets you think have potential for another regional music channel? And when is the Bengali channel coming?
    Responding to important markets, we saw that Punjab is a good market and we got into that. Marathi is also a good market. We saw that there is a clear need gap for 25+ audiences, so we launched Jalwaa.

     

    Obviously, West Bengal is a big market. So is Bhojpuri. But that doesn‘t mean that we will launch everywhere. Let‘s see, you will hear from us once we are ready to launch.

    And what about English? 
    English is also an interesting space. I am not saying we are launching, but it should interest a music broadcaster.
  • Anjunaa Beach to release on 24 February

    Anjunaa Beach to release on 24 February

    MUMBAI: Producer Sikander A Khan’s Anjunaa Beach is set to release on 24 February.

    The film is based on the mysterious death of Scarlett Keeling on a Goa beach on 18 February 2008.

    The body of the British teenager is still lying in a mortuary in the UK. Keeling’s family is awaiting a nod from the CBI to carry out the last rites. It is said that Keeling, 15, was sexually assaulted and left to die at Anjuna beach, allegedly by two beach shack workers.

    The police had initially dismissed the case as death due to drowning. But after her mother alleged foul play, the case was transferred to the CBI.

  • British Film Institute chooses Prime Focus Technologies as preferred supplier

    British Film Institute chooses Prime Focus Technologies as preferred supplier

    MUMBAI: Prime Focus Limited (PFL) has announced that its subsidiary Prime Focus Technologies Private Limited (PFT) has been chosen by the British Film Institute (BFI) as a preferred supplier of digital services for its film and television archives including scanning and digital restoration services.

    Following a tender process that saw bids from 35 suppliers from both the UK and abroad, PFT was selected as one of the specialist companies that the BFI will work with to help preserve and present its archive material.

    Commenting on the announcement, PFT vice president and UK head Aine Healy said, “This is just one of many exciting projects that the BFI is working on and we hope that we can continue to grow this relationship. We feel we have the perfect skillset, infrastructure and technology to ensure that the BFI.s archive is readily available for people to enjoy both today and in the future.”

    BFI’s head of conservation Charles Fairall averred, “The BFI is charged with the preservation and accessibility of UK’s film and television heritage. We.re very pleased to be partnering with Prime Focus Technologies and our other chosen suppliers, to preserve and open up our archive to new audiences.”

    Earlier Prime Focus Technologies had collaborated with the BFI on many high profile projects and has provided its services to other archives including the Imperial War Museum, British Movietone News, IMG, Huntley Archives and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

  • Sony acquires rights of Woody Allen’s next

    Sony acquires rights of Woody Allen’s next

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Classics (SPC) has acquired all North American and U.K. rights of Woody Allen’s next, Nero Fiddled. Paris has grossed more than $56 million since its release in May.

    With this acquisition, this is Allen‘s fifth film to be released by SPC following his Midnight in Paris, his biggest success to date.

    “More laughs in this one than you can imagine,” SPC co-presidents Tom Bernard and Michael Barker has been stated to have said. “We know it‘s a bit premature, but thank you Woody and company for granting us the perfect summer comedy of 2012. Keep ‘em coming,” he added.

    Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Penelope Cruz, Jesse Eisenberg, Greta Gerwig and Ellen Page star in the Rome-set story.

    SPC previously released Allen‘s You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Whatever Works and Sweet and Lowdown.