Actress Nandita Das and producer Mukesh Bhatt today inaugurated the third Mumbai Film Mart(MFM), which provides a platform for major global film buyers, studios, exhibitors and filmmakers to meet.
The MFM, running alongside the Mumbai Film Festival, has already seen registration of 70 projects and hopes to see an increase in the number in coming days, according to Rashmi Lamba, manager MFM.
Das, 43, who is working on her Spanish film 'Traces of Sandalwood', said, "Mumbai Film Mart gives a great platform for independent film makers; allowing them to connect with other people and talking about traditional and non-traditional films."
The actress, who made her directorial debut with 'Firaaq', said making independent cinema is a struggle and marketing it is another issue but platforms like MFM could help budding filmmakers.
Bhatt said, "Mumbai Film Mart gives an opportunity to us, especially to the young filmmakers to showcase their talent and also brings to us the talent from all over the world; mutually benefiting all.
"The cost of making films is getting frighteningly expensive. To combat this, you need to tap all these markets so that you can fulfil your creativity in the best possible way."
The opening day was also attended by Susana De La Sierra, Director General, ICAA, (Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts) Spain, Mukesh Bhatt, who is the President of the Film and Television Producers Guild, Uday Singh, MD, Motion Picture Association India, Ganesh Jain, Indian Council for IMPEX of Films & TV programmes, Kulmeet Makkar, CEO, Film & Television Producers Guild of India, Amit Khanna, Founder Trustee of MAMI, ex-President FTPJ and ex-Chairman of Reliance and NFDC's Vikramjit Roy amongst others.
Sierra said Spain has been a great destination for Hollywood films and she would like to see more collaborations happening between India and her country.
Roy gave the example of 'Qissa', which is a production collaboration between many European countries and NFDC, to talk about the benefits of cross-funding of movies.
Singh pointed out that despite having a successful run at the local box office, Indian films hit a glass ceiling when it comes to breaking in foreign territories unlike Hollywood films like 'Avatar' and 'Life of Pi' whose 70 per cent profit came from global box office.
