MUMBAI: The sixth day of the 11th Mumbai Film Festival (MFF) saw business kicking off at MAMI’s Film Business Centre with Enlighten Film Society acquiring the home video rights of Antichrist. This year MFF introduced the Film Business Centre as a first step towards setting up a full-fledged Film Market. The aim is to provide a networking platform for Indian distributors, producers, television channels, foreign sales agents, festival directors and producers to enhance the international sales of Indian films under the aegis of the Mumbai Film Festival.
The Film Business Centre is open for the members of film industry on an invitation basis. Film Festival director S. Narayan said, "Every long journey must start at a first step. The Film Business Centre is our first modest step in establishing a flourishing film market in India. We are happy that in the first year itself business deals have begun by the acquisition of Antichrist’s video rights by an Indian company. The UK Film Council is also using this platform provided by Mumbai Film Festival to launch distribution of British independent films in India. We are also aware that business discussions have been taken place with Japanese companies and other European sales agents. This indicates that the seed, which we have sown has started to grow."
Antichrist, directed by Lars von Trier, is a about a couple who lose their young son when he falls out the window while they have sex in the other room. The mother’s grief consigns her to hospital, but her therapist husband brings her home intent on treating her depression himself. To confront her fears they go to stay at their remote cabin in the woods, "Eden", where something untold happened the previous summer.
Enlighten Society chairman Pranav Ashar said, "The culture of watching foreign language movies is missing in India. Hence we want to spread the culture among the people of watching these kinds of films, which will help them to understand various cultures all across the globe. We want to be associated with cinema that will touch a common chord in everyone’s soul without the boundaries of time and space hence, we acquired the rights of AntiChrist. We are currently talking to the sensor board for a clearance for the film; based on their response we will release the movie on DVD in India."
