What Nina Lath Gupta achieved at the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) — a trendsetter for Indian parallel cinema in the 1970s and ’80s — is nothing short of a corporate fairy tale. As the NFDC managing director in 2006, she brought with her over 16 years of experience as an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer. She revived the loss-making sick PSU (Public Sector Undertaking) from Rs 24 crore in 2006 to a company recording a turnover of Rs 162.33 crore in 2010-11 by becoming one of the largest ad filmmakers in the country, producing advertisements for various government ministries. Among Lath Gupta’s accomplishments was the introduction of the Film Bazaar in 2007, a global film co-production market for South Asian films, that runs parallel to the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa. Numerous talented first-time filmmakers have benefited from programmes such as the Screenwriter’s Lab, Work-in-Progress Lab, and Co-Production Lab that she established. In 2012, she launched the ‘Cinemas of India’ distribution brand to release restored classic NFDC-produced films.
Now she brings her years of experience, expertise, and learnings to the Cinévesture International Film Festival (CIFF), started last year. Its CinéV Market, running parallel to the CIFF festival in Chandigarh from March 20-23, looks to connect filmmakers with private investors.
“What we (at CinéV) are trying to build is organic co-productions private finance,” says Mumbai-based Nina Lath Gupta, founder CEO of Cinévesture and founder of the Chandigarh-based Cinévesture International Film Festival and CinéV Film Markets.
The market’s second edition, Cinév, in addition to the main section, has introduced three new segments: ProofPoint (17 short films), InTheWorks Lab (six projects in rough cut stage seeking mentors), and CinévSpotlight (six films; which comprises debut features of seasoned storytellers). These films, celebrating multicultural and multilingual India, offer a window into worlds often overlooked by mainstream cinema.
In the last edition, “we only knew two things that we wanted to do: a small, contained festival where the focus was more on just trying to enhance quality rather than the numbers. But the more important part for us was the film market, and we wanted to see how the industry would respond. We were very clear we want to build an investor-creator network,” says Lath Gupta, 59. “This time, we are more organised. We have proper sections carved out, we have project market, and a producer-investor workshop in the mix. We have used some of my learnings that I incorporated in Film Bazaar but the intention here is completely different,” she adds.
Edited excerpts from an interview:
Why did you set up the CinéV Film Market? What is new at the Cinévesture festival this year?
When you look at the history of private finance, not the really big budget films, because they have their own network of finances, but when you look at indie films, a lot of the private financing comes in from friends and family networks. And, people often say, ‘I burnt my fingers in one film, never again.’ I felt that there could be a mechanism for having structured investments from these same financiers who’ve been investing and potential investors who invest in movies. And a way for them to get curated projects, because very often, investors in the film industry tend to be passive investors. Unlike, say, a tech conference on AI, where investors will go and look at startups to invest in and start a conversation. But there’s never been a venue for that for films that are moving around in the market or getting released, outside the purview of festivals. Thus came the need to start a film market like CinéV.
These projects are presented by talent that have already proved themselves in the market. It mitigates the risk somewhat for the investor. For instance, this year, Vikramaditya Motwane’s project, Koyta (Sickle), Radhika Apte is going to be directing it. She’s a debut director, but she’s been an extraordinary actor and film professional. Once you know the business, you can get into different facets of it. Vikramaditya is also a creative producer, there will be a significant contribution from him in the making of that film. So, if I were an investor, I would consider it a good film to bet on. Or Honey Trehan’s project The Blade Runner, which has Trehan and Abhishek Chaubey producing it. This is such an inspirational story about Major DP Singh, who is actually from Mohali and is India’s first blade runner. He’s a Kargil War hero, he lost his leg, and he’s a marathon runner. It’s such an inspirational story. With that story and talents behind it, it is an investment-friendly project.
With InTheWorks Lab, curated by (film producer) Rucha Pathak, who’s worked with UTV (Motion Pictures), Fox (Star Studios), and Excel (Entertainment), she understands the market, as does (producer) Miriam Joseph, who’s handling it. Since writing and post-production are the loneliest parts of filmmaking, it helps to have an outside perspective. And we have, what Rucha calls, a brain trust. We saw that even in Film Bazaar, the Work-in-Progress (WIP) Lab was the most popular section, and practically every film out of the WIP Lab used to get into one of the premier festivals.
Highly professional, brilliant minds are contributing to the process and helping the filmmakers out there. We felt we needed to do an investor workshop because we feel that there are a lot of investors who want to invest in movies but don’t have a macro vision of the industry, and it’s good to give them that.
Then we have introduced ProofPoint, which I believe should be a game-changer. Here, we are presenting a curation of (17) short films, which are Proof of Concept films that have been made by filmmakers with the intent to convert it into their debut long-form narrative film. Today, you can’t raise money on a script. It’s not possible, realistically speaking. Today, the script could have come from anywhere, you don’t know if AI has spit it out. Showing your short films is, thus, a better proof of your craft.
What kind of investments are you looking at?
We are open to all kinds of investors, whether it is venture capital funds or equity finance. I look at a film like a startup. And it has a quick turnaround and exit strategy, within, say, two years. In less than two years, you’ve made the film, you put it out in the market. And you’ve earned your primary money back. You can then structure the deal accordingly, whether you want to invest in one film, or you want to spread your risks over multiple projects, depending on the kind of investment you make. That might be a better strategy. I think what is important was to start a conversation.
We want to promote the cause of doing investment in a structured way, because I think there are a lot of family funds, VC funds. An investor can do SPVs (Special Purpose vehicles) for films, for one film or multiple films. But I do hope it’s a conversation that will be taken seriously and given a chance. I believe that the industry will grow if investors start coming in a structured format.
Any learnings from your days setting up the NFDC Film Bazaar that you bring to CinéV?
Yes, pitching. We learnt that you need to teach people how to pitch. We’ve moved beyond that (at CinéV). The projects market, the central project section, already has very experienced filmmakers, so to ask them to pitch would be quite ridiculous. We are only presenting the logline of their film. We have asked the creators to come armed with NDAs (Non-Disclosure agreements/legal confidentiality agreements), etc. We want to do it in a structured manner. In terms of a risk mitigation strategy, this section would be more attractive to private investors. People want to invest in movies but don’t know where to start.
The short films (in ProofPoint) are the pitch. You watch the film and take a call on whether you want to put your money on it. Investing in a talent, not just a film, is great for production houses.
The CinéV market features experienced Bollywood filmmakers this year. Is the market a rescue operation for the Hindi film industry, which is going through a crisis at present? Where does that leave the independent filmmakers outside the industry, with no connections, networks, and access?
For us, it was about creating an investor-creator network. That investor-creator network is not just for these 20 curated projects. It’s a good way to start because it instills confidence in the investor. If you’re a good filmmaker, nobody can keep you down. You can put it in CineVault, which is the video library. You can put it in Proof of Concept movies. In my experience, I have never seen a good talent being held down. At the end of the day, filmmaking is a collaborative effort. A lot of money goes into it. A lot of careers are at stake. It’s not the career of the director alone. The two principal pillars on which a film business must stand are: audience responsiveness and strong execution capabilities. I think ProofPoint will be the game-changer for indie films. (Former Film Bazaar director and ProofPoint curator) Leena Kobhragade is an old hand in discovering new talent and brilliant stories. I can’t think of a stronger way to put new talent out there.
Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of an investor. If I go to an investor and say, I want to direct a film, why would they invest in me? I have no body of work to show. But if a Jeo Baby (The Great Indian Kitchen), Richa Chadha (Girls will be Girls) or Vikramaditya Motwane (Black Warrant) is part of my project, it instills investor confidence and also eases the pain of financing; it helps build a movement. It’s not about doing it for a certain section of people. It’s about starting a conversation. And you need a very strong foundation to build that conversation on (risk mitigation). I can see the craft and the market worthiness in it. This is the first year and it will have a gestation period.
Will the CinéV market be a once-a-year feature?
CinéV is a series of markets, not just one market. After CinéV-CHD in Chandigarh, the next one is CineV-IFFLA in May, in collaboration with the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, where we are curating and presenting projects that have the possibility of aligning with Hollywood producers. I think the best partner that the Indian film industry has, if you look at our economic models, is Hollywood.
So, government subsidy-based cinema as a model won’t work in India?
I believe that, when it comes to government financing, subsidies cannot endure in continuity. That is why one of the first things I did at NFDC was give 100 percent financing to a first-time filmmaker, but after that one break, the second time around when he comes back, he needs to have a partner on board. Because how else do other new talent get a chance to get money?
The government of India is now doing a magnificent job in terms of giving incentives (up to 40 per cent/$3.6 million if you shoot a film in India). If you combine that with the fact that it is much cheaper to shoot a film in India, why wouldn’t any producer abroad want to come and also make an Indian film that has the chance of also doing well? Why wouldn’t he want to invest in, say, the next Richie Mehta or Ritesh Batra? And they will come up through ProofPoint.
What are your concerns at the market?
I’m invested in transparency, about setting up SOPs because a lot of investors fear the opacity of the industry. You don’t know where the money goes, those kinds of things. I’m more interested in that aspect of it than the creative aspect of it because these are very senior guys, and are well-versed in the business.
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