Mumbai: Vishal Furia’s horror project Bogie No. S4 won the B.I.G NAFF Award, which carries a cash prize of $8,900, and the Blood Window Award at the 11th Network of Asian Fantastic Films (NAFF), which concluded on Tuesday. India was the country of focus at the market this year, with four Indian horror projects selected: Bogie No. S4, Rohit Mittal’s Paradisco, Vikas Chandra’s The Abode of the Gods and Bhargav Saikia’s The Ordeal.
The Bucheon Award, the top prize worth $13,300, went to Abdul Zainidi’s Worm and the Widow from Brunei and Sokyou Chea’s Soul Searching from Cambodia.
NAFF aims to support developing projects across genres, from fantasy, horror and thriller to action, black comedy and sci-fi. It’s a part of South Korea’s biggest genre-based film festival, the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN). Twenty-six projects from 19 countries were selected for the five-day market.
Mr. Furia, who was searching for potential investors, co-producers and sales agents before heading to the market, said, “It’s difficult to find producers and distributors for horror films in India.” Bogie No. S4 is likely to go into production later this year. “Horror has always been popular in Korea, and BIFAN is like the Cannes of commerce for the horror genre,” said Yogesh Karikurve, the film’s international co-producer.
Historically associated with the Ramsay Brothers, homegrown horror films seldom feature A-list actors. “There’s a perception that festival films are of a certain kind and horror doesn't fit into that,” said Mr. Chandra, who was looking for a seed fund to develop his script with two writers at NAFF. At the moment, The Abode of the Gods is in the script development stage. “Most funding available for independent films is given to projects in the production or post-production stage,” said Mr. Chandra, .
The Ordeal, Mr. Saikia’s feature directorial debut, is the story of a governess of two orphaned kids battling sinister goings-on in a remote country house. Mr. Mittal, known for his 2016 film Autohead, explores the disquieting encounters of a man in his early 30s in Paradisco. These films are in various stages of development.
With streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime beefing up their original content in India, filmmakers had the chance to explore digital opportunities. At NAFF, Mr. Chandra was expected to meet Blumhouse Productions, which is currently co-producing Ghoul, Netflix's first Indian horror series. Korean production company Kross Pictures, which has been co-producing Indian genre films and buying rights for the Indian remakes of Korean hits,was also present.
The NAFF has given cash and post-production support worth over $33,000 to outstanding projects at the market this year.