National Film Development Corporations' Screenwriters' Lab announces list of distinguished guest mentors and advisers
With Sooni Taraporevala and Udayan Prasad confirming attendance as mentors for National Film Development Corporation and Binger Filmlab screenwriter's workshop, participants can look forward to an enriching experience in Goa later on in the year.
Tweet-- National Film Development Corporation's Screenwriters’ Labfor writers with screenplays in development is pleased to announce this year’s distinguishedguest mentors and advisors who bring their expertise from all over the world toshare with the Indian participants in Goa. The list is as follows:
Ido Abram
Director, Binger Filmlab
Ido Abram was formerly attached to the International FilmFestival Rotterdam as CineMart Director and Head of Public Relations andIndustry Affairs. CineMart is the annual co-production market of theInternational Film Festival Rotterdam. In August 2005, Ido joined Binger as itsnew director. In addition, he is a consultant to the European Film Market ofthe Berlin Film Festival, a consultant to the Producers Network of the CannesFilm Festival, a consultant to the Hong Kong Asian Film Financing Forum and anadvisor to the Dutch Film Fund.
Marten Rabarts
Artistic Director, Binger Filmlab
With a background in producing film and documentaries,Marten has been head of the Binger Programmes since 2001. In January 2006 hewas named Artistic Director of the newly branded BINGER FILMLAB. He wasresponsible for the Binger Partnership in the production/training incentiveProject 10 – real stories from a free South Africa. He continues to workas a producer, screenwriter and Script Editor and has recently served as Jurymember of the Berlin Film Festival International Short Film Jury (2005)Sundance NHK prize (2003) and The Netherlands Film Festival KODAK developmentaward (2004, 2005).
Guest Mentors
Sooni Taraporevalais an award winning screenwriter, photographer and now director, has beenwriting screenplays for the past 21 years. Most recently she has written thescreenplay of the film The Namesake, based on the book by Jhumpa Lahiri,directed by Mira Nair with whom she has earlier collaborated with on Salaam Bombay! and Mississipi Masala. In 2007 she directed her first film Little Zizou whichis the closing night film at the MIAAC festival in New York City and is slated for a March 2009release. She is currently writing the adaptation of Mark Shand's book TravelsOn My Elephant.
Udayan Prasad isan award winning UKbased director whose work includes the critically acclaimed BrothersIn Trouble (1995), My Son The Fanatic (OfficialSelection Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997,) and his fifthfeature is The Yellow Handkerchief, starring William Hurt, Maria Bello,Kristen Stewart and Eddie Redmayne. Produced by Arthur Cohn and shot in Louisiana, the film was his US debut, and had its premier inJanuary 2008 at the Sundance Film Festival.
Franz Rodenkirchenis an International Script Editor and Tutor. He currently heads the consultingdepartment at Berlin-based script development company Script House. He is Headof Selection for Torino Film Lab. As script advisor he regularly works for theBinger Filmlab, Amsterdam; European workshopScript&Pitch; CineLink, the co-production market of the Sarajevo FilmFestival, and the Deutsche Film-und Fernseh Akademie, Berlin. Franzhas been working on well over 100 mostly international film projects,predominantly with writer/directors. He is also a regular at co-productionmarkets all over Europe and besides doingproject development has helped writers/directors to prepare public pitches.
Philippa Campbellis ones of New Zealand’smost accomplished producers known for her development process and is formerchair of the NZ Writers Guild. Her recently produced credits include Rain byChristine Jeffs, No2 by Toa Fraser (2006 Audience Award winner at Sundance), andBlack Sheep by Jonathon King.
This experienced and talented team of professionals will mentor eight Indian writers over a 5 day period. At the end of the workshop participants will have four months to submit revised versions of these scripts. The scripts will be co-owned by NFDC and will receive production support towards their realisation of becoming feature films. Entries are being accepted till September 15th.
The Screenwriters' Lab is part of NFDC's line-up of activities that are being held in Goa at the end of November. It runs alongside Film Bazaar which is the Coproduction Market for feature films and documentaries. As was the case in 2007, at Film Bazaar industry members from India and other parts of the world will travel to Goa to consider partnering with Indian stories that are geared for a global marketplace. While the feature film market and the writing workshop were held last year the documentary section is a new initiative.
Notes to Editor
National Film Development Corporation of India is the central agency established to encourage the cinema movement in the country. Theprimary goal of the NFDC is to plan, promote and organize an integratedand efficient development of the Indian film industry and fosterexcellence in cinema. Over the years NFDC has provided a wide range ofservices essential to the growth of Indian cinema. The NFDC (and itspredecessor the Film Finance Corporation) has so far funded and/or producedover 300 films. These films, in various Indian languages, have beenwidely acclaimed and have won many national and international awards.