India's connect with Cold War

Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War that won him the best director award at Cannes, has an India connect that may well see it come to theatres in the country in the near future. Mumbai-based Cinestaan Film Company, “a boutique film studio” as it describes itself, has collaborated on the project as an investor.

Boarding the project was “a no brainer for us,” said Deborah Sathe, its UK-based Director, International Operations. “The story was extraordinary, coupled with Pawel’s previous film Ida, and our relationship with the films producers, it was a very easy decision for us to make,” she added.

“We are delighted with the film and its reception at Cannes and look forward to both the Indian and international audience getting to see it,” said Sathe. The dates of the release, however, are yet to be finalised.

Cinestaan Film Company has theatrically released Indian films like Mukti Bhawan (Hotel Salvation) across the world via their international sales arm C International Sales, as well as A Death in the Gunj, Dev Bhoomi, and their own production The Hungry via Amazon Prime; all having premièred at major international festivals and available now on Amazon Prime.

“Boarding Cold War marks our next step into selling films with no Indian connect,” said Sathe. The initiative will be led by the new Director of Sales Paul Hudson. Cinestaan is also expanding its current offices from London and Mumbai into Los Angeles.

Cinestaan wants to keep things versatile for the future. It is producing India’s first ever live action, all-animal feature titled Aasha The Street Dog teaming up with UK-based Newscope Films, and Gitanjali Rao’s much coveted Indo-French hand-painted animation debut feature Bombay Rose. Also in the pipeline is a New Zealand set project Tip Top Taj Mahal directed by veteran director Lee Tamahori (Along Came a Spider, Die Another Day) starring Manoj Bajpai.