Film Bazaar has been a work of passion for us in NFDC and also for all those amazing consultants and interns who invest a great deal of their time into setting up this event every year. I believe the journey has been one of tremendous growth and learning for us.

There are many highs—the fact that the WIP Labs, the Screenwriters Labs, and the Viewing Room have been such a success; the fact that the number of applicants for each lab is rising every year; the fact that almost every film in the WIP Lab makes it to international film festivals (starting with the year Miss Lovely made it to Un Certain Regard at Cannes); the fact that film-makers pitch their projects so professionally and competently (the transition from the culture of a film narration to a short effective five minute pitch has been a significant achievement); and our latest successful endeavour in encouraging states to position themselves as film-friendly destinations.

Of course there are many lows as well. Perhaps the greatest, in retrospect was the first edition of FB that was so amateurish and ill planned that we scared away some sales agents who didn’t return for a few years. The fact that in the first three or four editions we faced a great deal of criticism on the ratio of investment to output; the fact that we could not entice studios to participate; and so on. But all of the above are part of a story of an event that has built up over time. Personally I would assess the journey so far as a work-in-progress.

Read More at www.livemint.com