- Friday, October 18, 2024
The festival also featured Sandhya Suri’s Santosh, previously screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival
By: India Weekly
PAYAL KAPADIA’S All We Imagine as Light, which won a Grand Prix at Cannes, drew a packed house at its screening during the 2024 Jerusalem Film Festival (JFF). The festival, which commenced on July 18, also featured Sandhya Suri’s Santosh, previously screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
“I am proud to say that both Indian entries – All We Imagine as Light and Santosh – are completely sold out. It is also great to see that both films have been directed by women,” a JFF official stated at an event co-organised with the Indian embassy.
Written and directed by Kapadia, All We Imagine as Light is an Indo-French co-production between petit chaos from France and Chalk and Cheese Films from India. It features an ensemble cast of Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam, Hridhu Haroon, and Azees Nedumangad.
The story revolves around Prabha, a nurse, and her roommate, Anu, who embark on a road trip to a beach town where the mystical forest becomes a space for their dreams to manifest.
Ahead of the film’s screening at the JFF, the Indian embassy hosted a session on “Incentives for Filming in India” to attract Israeli storytellers to shoot their films and documentaries in India, and to strengthen collaboration between the two nations.
Over 100 film enthusiasts, many of them filmmakers, attended the event to learn about the various incentives available for co-productions or filmmaking in India.
A short video highlighting the strengths of the Indian film industry—one of the oldest and largest, with a vast pool of resources, exceptional talent, over 900 animation, visual effects, and gaming facilities, and more than 180,000 professionals—was showcased.
Deputy Chief of Mission Rajiv Bodwade noted that the Indian government has significantly enhanced cash incentives for foreign production companies to boost international content collaborations. He outlined the cashback incentives offered by the Indian and various state governments, including potential 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 added.
Under the scheme for foreign productions, up to 40 per cent of the expenses incurred in India, subject to a cap of $3.6 million, can be reimbursed to producers.
India has co-production agreements with 16 countries, including Israel.
Bodwade announced that the first such collaboration involving renowned Israeli filmmaker Dan Wolman is complete and will be released soon.
Wolman’s film, The Murderer with the Purple Hair, is co-directed by Indian filmmaker Manju Bora and was shot in Assam. It stars Shamin Mannan and Siddhart Goswami, with Seema Biswas and Adil Hussain in guest roles.
Sharing his experience, Wolman said, “All the papers were prepared very swiftly by the Film Facilitation Office (FFO) and the Israeli Ministry of Culture. Guwahati sounds peripheral, but we found the equipment – cameras, lighting, recording – top-notch, comparable to New York, Paris, or Tel Aviv. The crew, including Assamese photographers and other professionals, were fantastic. The creative intellectual discussions were also excellent. The crew in India made us feel at home, like family.”
Yaron Kastori, another Israeli filmmaker present at the event, expressed his interest in collaborating with Indian producers on a future project.
