Six Indian film professionals are among the 18 to have been chosen for Film Independent’s prestigious Global Media Makers (GMM) initiative. GMM is a mentoring initiative and cultural exchange program aimed at building a relationship between American film industry professionals with talent from South Asia, West Asia and Turkey.
The six Indian fellows and their projects include writer Triparna Banerjee’s A Year of Cold ( Chiso Barsa ), which is about a pregnant woman who journeys deep into the remote, harsh Himalayas with her monk brother-in-law to search for her missing husband and give her child an identity; writer-director Shazia Iqbal’s Blood Circle , an anthology of stories set in Mumbai that “explores the vicious circle of oppression that transforms a human from prey to predator”; Nishtha Jain’s The Golden Thread , a documentary on India’s ageing jute mills, where harsh working conditions coexist with hopes for its ecological revival; Bikas Mishra’s Testimony ( Bayaan ) about a powerful religious guru who is accused of rape and a rookie female detective who must identify the guru’s anonymous accuser and convince her to testify in court; Christo Tomy’s Undercurrent ( Ullozhukku ), which follows a pregnant widow during floods, who waits for her unloving husband’s funeral and lies that she is carrying his child to escape her family’s wrath and reunite with her secret lover; and filmmaker Miriam Chandy Menacherry.
"From India, we have six remarkable projects, capturing a wide range of genres, styles and regions, but all embodying the true originality and strength of Indian film culture today," said Josh Welsh, President of Film Independent.
This year’s fellows — nine men and nine women — will receive a year-long fellowship that begins on October 1 with a six-week LA Residency.
Fellows will develop their current projects with a team of U.S. mentors, including filmmakers and screenwriters like Andrew Ahn ( Spa Night ), Jay Duplass ( Room 104 ), Craig Mazin ( Chernobyl ), Nicole Perlman ( Guardians of the Galaxy ), Justin Simien ( Dear White People ), Mary Sweeney ( Mulholland Drive ), Lulu Wang ( The Farewell ) and Bradford Young ( Selma ).
Filmmaker Nishtha Jain
“To see veteran filmmakers and [previous] Film Independent fellows as mentors is very rewarding,” said Maria Raquel Bozzi, senior director of education and international initiatives at Film Independent.
