Aadim Primordial India

Aadim

Primordial

India | Marathi | Mystery, Thriller

Budget USD 387,000 Financing in place USD 97,000 Production Company Goopy Bagha Production goopybagha.com Present at Film Bazaar Sohil Vaidya Bijon Imtiaz Looking for Co-Producers Financiers Distribution Partners

Synopsis

In the heavy monsoon downpour, Vishnu, a young and dynamic police officer from Mumbai, goes to investigate the mysterious disappearances of two women from the forest surrounding the remote indigenous village in the western ghats of Maharashtra. A local odd fellow named Shiva becomes the primary suspect as he is seen walking on the trail of disappeared women multiple times. Vishnu, desperate for evidence, installs cameras in various spots throughout the forest. When another woman disappears, Vishnu scans through all the footage and sees Shiva following the woman into the forest. However, the mist filled forest makes things hazy. When the mist clears, she isn’t there. Vishnu obsessively watches this footage for days. He spots a mysterious pixelated figure in the groves where the women entered. He becomes obsessed with this figure and feels it’s Shiva. Failing to get a warrant makes Vishnu go rogue. He ties down Shiva at the bottom of the dried well and tortures him till he confesses. The disappearance of Shiva shakes up the local police, who begin search operations. Vishnu realizes that if Shiva doesn’t confess to his crime, he would be in deep trouble.

Aadim raises fundamental questions about human perception. Is truth different for everyone because perceptions can be subjective? Does the truth or reality exist at all? Aadim drifts from the standard police procedurals when it dives into philosophical quests. At its core, it’s a deeply humane story with relatable themes such as loneliness, trauma and obsession. In the wilderness, where laws of human civilization fall apart, Vishnu becomes more obsessed with the case and leaves behind his civilized ways to go to the extremes. As he stares down into the bottomless abyss, the abyss stares back at him! Aadim is a unique cop procedural because it doesn’t follow the formula of investigative thrillers. It drifts and shifts genres by blending mythological tales, forest related folklore and thrilling investigative plot, thus creating a mesmerizing effect, offering audiences something fresh and exciting.

Director(s)’ Biography

Sohil is a writer and director based in Pune and Los Angeles. An alumnus of USC, he studied MFA in Film Directing/Writing. His films have been screened at over 90 international film festivals, such as Rotterdam, Chicago, Melbourne, Raindance, IFFI (Indian Panorama). His recent short film Murmurs of the Jungle, became the first Indian film to win Grand Prix at Melbourne International Film Festival. It is Oscar-eligible and is currently promoting itself. He is the winner of the prestigious Director’s Guild of America’s Best Short Film Award for his USC thesis film, Difficult People. Sohil is a BAFTA Fellow for their newcomer’s program in Los Angeles.

Producer(s)’ Biography

Bijon is an award-winning Bangladeshi-American writer/director/producer with a focus on culturally specific stories from the Indian sub-continent, yet universally relatable. His works have been featured in many international film festivals, including Venice, Rotterdam, Locarno, Seattle, Shanghai, Singapore, Busan, Melbourne, Freiburg, Stockholm, Raindance and many others. His project has been supported by Berlinale, Sundance Institute, Cannes Marche du Film, La Fabrique, Film Independent, Sloan Foundation, Locarno Open Doors, Hong Kong Film Financing Forum. Bijon is the first Bangladeshi Film Production/Directing MFA graduate from the prestigious Film, Television, and Theatre Department of UCLA.

Arifur Rahman completed the graduation program from Busan Asian Film School in Film Producing in 2019. He has participated in Locarno Open Doors, Global Media Makers LA and La Fabrique Cannes. Arifur Rahman’s film, Kingdom of Clay Subjects, has been showcased at Venice, Rotterdam, Busan, Melbourne and Raindance etc.

Sohil Vaidya Director

(+91) 8183837763 sohilcinemaforever@ gmail.com

Bijon Imtiaz Producer

(+1) 4054122326 bijon@goopybagha.com

Arifur Rahman Producer

(+880) 1711235465 arif@goopybagha.com

A Life A Rose

India, France, United Kingdom, Germany | English, Bengali, French | Drama, Romance

Budget USD 1,641,500 Financing in place USD 359,000 Production Company BackUp Media backupmediagroup.com

Taran Tantra Telefilms tarantantra.com

Present at Film Bazaar Kaushik Ray Pooja Chauhan Looking for Financiers Distribution Partners Sales/Sales Agents

Synopsis

A Life A Rose is the story of a decades-long silent mutual love, told through the eyes of 70-year-old protagonist Namita Sinha, predominantly set in modern-day Paris and harking back to 1960s Kolkata.

In her teenage years in India, Namita and her best friend Sasha bonded over feminism and poetry. Their friendship grew into a love and intimacy that couldn’t be defined in words. Their families got wind of their forbidden relationship and separated them. Sasha’s parents sent her off to Paris. Namita never heard from Sasha again. Namita ended up as a professor in Canada, living a somewhat unfulfilled life. Sasha, meanwhile, studied art in Paris, married a Frenchman and had two children. She suffered from lifelong depression. Namita’s favourite nephew and fellow poetry lover Akash persuades her to visit him in Paris, where he currently lives, with his boyfriend Matthias. He inspires her to look Sasha up and so begins our journey into their pasts and their future as worlds and histories collide in love, art and poetry whilst navigating shame, regret and missed chances.

A Life A Rose focuses on our main protagonist Namita’s what ifs. If we had a chance to revisit the past and discovered things could have been different, would we change it? The film speaks about this experience from the gaze of an older generation of women. I want to remind the viewers that LGBTQ+ / queer rights have only been won and gained in very recent history, and that even in countries where legal rights exist, deep-seated prejudices still exist. What can the older generations of queer people can learn from the younger generation, and vice versa?

Each of the characters finds salvation in art and poetry. I want the film to show how poetry written nearly 200 years ago, still impacts and inspires people today. Finally, A Life A Rose explores Bengali and French cultural parallels and honours the intersection of these culturally rich worlds.

Director(s)’ Biography

Kaushik’s stories are inspired by two decades of working in international business and politics. He identifies as an internationalist and a feminist, and all his stories explore contemporary social issues such as corruption, hypocrisy, misogyny and inequality with a dash of humour or poetry. His production company (www.tarantantra.com) was founded in 2020. It focuses on funding LGBTQ+ content from South Asia, with an emphasis on stories of intersectional prejudice in minority communities. The aim of the company and films made by Kaushik are to tell stories that aren’t otherwise told.

Kaushik Ray Director

(+44) 7825943900 info@tarantantra.com

Producer(s)’ Biography

Jean-Baptiste Babin (Backup Media ) has been fully dedicated to the financing of feature films and TV projects since 2002. Since its launch, Backup Media has financed and brought its international expertise on over 450 film and TV projects, acting as a trustful bridge between the entertainment industry and the financial world. Backup Media is a leading European reference on the financing of International feature and TV projects.

Pooja Chauhan is known for 2 States (2014), Girls Will Be Girls and The Goa Run (2014). Most recently, she is the producer for Goldfish (2022) starring Kalki Koechlin and Deepti Naval.

Jean-Baptiste Babin Producer

(+331) 47700234 backup@ backupmediagroup.com

(+44) 7448443016 pooja.creativeproducer@ gmail.com

Pooja Chauhan Producer