Irrfan Khan’s ‘The Song of Scorpions’ Sets India Release – Global Bulletin
DISTRIBUTION
“The Song of Scorpions,” starring Irrfan Khan, Golshifteh Farahani and Waheeda Rehman, written and directed by Anup Singh, will be released in India by Panorama Films and 70mm Talkies on April 28. The film’s release in India was withheld due to the pandemic in 2021.
“The Song of Scorpions” is a story of twisted love, revenge and the redemptive power of a song. Nooran, carefree and defiantly independent, is a tribal woman learning the ancient art of healing from her grandmother, a revered scorpion-singer. When Aadam, a camel trader in the Rajasthan desert, hears her sing, he falls desperately in love. But even before they can get to know each other better, Nooran is poisoned by a treachery that sets her on a perilous journey to avenge herself and find her song.
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The film had its world premiere at Locarno in 2017 and had festival play at Rotterdam, London, Singapore and Dubai among many others. It is produced by Feather Light Films and KNM, Michel Merkt and Cine-Sud Productions.
FUNDING
The BFI has revealed ￡9.6 million ($11.9 million) of National Lottery funding over three years to support skills development and training across the U.K. The funding focuses on establishing localized support for skills development and training, with the aim of creating new opportunities for people from underrepresented backgrounds to pursue careers in the sector. It will complement the work of the industry-led response to the BFI Skills Review, through the Skills Task Force, as well as industry interventions, including from organizations such as ScreenSkills.
Six BFI Skills Clusters have been awarded a total of ￡8.1 million over three years and will be led by organizations covering the following areas: Screen Yorkshire (North of England): ￡2.3 million; Film London (London, Hertfordshire, Surrey, and Buckinghamshire): ￡2.2 million; Creative Scotland (Scotland): ￡1.1 million; Create Central (West Midlands): ￡1 million; Northern Ireland Screen (Northern Ireland): ￡0.9 million; and Resource Productions (Berkshire): ￡0.6 million. In addition, ￡1.5 million of BFI National Lottery funding has been delegated to ScreenSkills for a Skills Bursary Fund, providing direct financial support to help new entrants and those already working behind the camera in the screen industry to access new training, skills and professional development opportunities.
ACQUISITION
“The New Americans: Gaming a Revolution,” by Ondi Timoner (Sundance winner “We Live in Public”) has been acquired by Republic Pictures for worldwide distribution by Paramount Global Content Distribution. The film is a meme-driven journey into the intersection of finance, media and extremism seen through the eyes and language of cryptographers and fanatics, hedge funders, bored housewives turned day traders college-kid millionaires, white collar criminals and financial TikTok influencers.
The deal was negotiated by Dan Cohen and Bahman Naraghi.
APPOINTMENT
Warner Bros. International Television Production has appointed Harry Gamsu to the role of VP, creative, format, development and sales, reporting into Andrew Zein, senior VP creative, format development and sales. In the Los Angeles-based position, he will be responsible for relations between the outfit’s international unit and the Warner Bros. US television production bases Warner Horizon, Telepictures and Shed and also evaluating formats within the Warner Bros. back catalogue for international exploitation and format sales to Canada. He takes over the role previously held by Adam Steinman, who departed the company earlier this year to take on a new, yet to be announced, role.
Gamsu previously served as VP, non-scripted content acquisitions at Fremantle, managing the U.S. content acquisition team, working across factual and entertainment series such as “How it Feels to be Free,” “After the Fyre” and “Project Runway.”
PARTNERSHIP
Jio Studios, the media and content arm of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, and eastern Indian entertainment conglomerate SVF Entertainment, are partnering to create Bengali-language content. The first projects under the partnership slate are Dhrubo Banerjee’s “Bogla Mama,” Srijit Mukherji’s “Dawshom Awbotaar,” Suman Ghosh’s “Kabuliwala,” Arno Mukhopadhyay’s “Athhoi” and an untitled project from Raj Chakrabarty.
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