Film/Stage
Award-Winning Director Gurvinder Singh Begins Shoot of His Next Punjabi Film
NANDITA DUTTA
Gurvinder Singh’s The Fourth Direction is scheduled to start shooting in mid-January, 2014 after securing support from French funding body, CNC.
Gurvinder Singh's earlier 2011 Punjabi film, the widely acclaimed Anhe Ghore Da Daan (Alms For The Blind Horse), has won awards in film festivals around the world.
The film premiered in the Orizzonti section (Horizons) at the 68th Venice International Film Festival. It won the Special Jury Award and the $50,000 Black Pearl trophy at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. It was also shown at the 55th BFI London Film Festival and the Busan International Film Festival. This film has won National Awards for Best Direction and Cinematography at the 59th National Film Awards of India. It also won the Golden Peacock award for best film at the 43rd International Film Festival 2012 in Panaji.
Gurvinder Singh's next film has now secured funding of $135,000 (Euros100,000) from CNC’s World Cinema Support fund. Satya Nagpaul, who won best cinematography at India’s National Film Awards in 2011 for Alms For The Blind Horse, has also boarded the film.
Selected for Film Bazaar’s Co-production Market in 2012, The Fourth Direction is a co-production between France’s Catherine Dussart Productions, the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), Kartikeya Narayan Singh’s The Film Cafe and Sunil Doshi’s Handmade Films.
Based
on two short stories by Punjabi writer Waryam Singh Sandhu, the film
will be shot in Punjab with a host of local actors and non-actors.
The Fourth Direction is the second Indian film after The Lunchbox to receive funding from CNC’s World Cinema Support fund, established in 2012 to support international co-productions.
The Lunchbox is the award-winning film showcasing actress Nimrat Kaur.
[Courtesy: Screen Daily. Edited for sikhchic.com]