The Viewing Room is a program at NFDC's annual Film Bazaar, South Asia's largest film market.
In this gallery, films at any production-stage are screened on individual systems for investors, distributors, programmers and curators to help filmmakers build relationships.
The Viewing Room
MARKETING, PUBLICATION, PROJECT MANAGEMENT
TEAM
Deepti D'Cunha (Curator)
Ada Lath Gupta (Cover Designer)
The catalogue and gallery software enable viewers to navigate the library and specifically seek films that list themselves, either in the gallery's software or the catalogue, with special details: if a film is a debut, seeking completion funds, festival programming, cinema (or TV) distribution, etc.
Both on-event engagement and future partnerships are thus facilitated. A direct email campaign targeting production houses and independent filmmakers enabled an increase in applications by 60%. In 2015, over 200 films were submitted in 11 languages. 32 were curated by program-runner Deepti D'Cunha into the Film Bazaar Recommends (FBR) section.
FILM BAZAAR RECOMMENDS
FBR films are given an entire spread with a full-page still on the left, and a thumbnail on the right page with the synopsis, credits, and relevant signage.
Stand out films in 2015 included "Lipstick Under My Burkha" (Hindi), "Raghu Rai: An Unframed Portrait" (Hindi and English), and "An Off-Day Game" (Malayalam).
FILM LIBRARY
FL films, which consist of feature-length fictions and documentaries, and shorts, are given the single page layout with relevant signage.
A small percentage are already released and seek new channels for distribution and programming.
GALLERY DESIGN + MANAGEMENT
The Viewing Room spatial design allows every attendee privacy at any one of the 20 separate viewing terminals, with headphones to watch films uninterrupted, and a desk to make notes and arrange meetings with filmmakers (if they happen to be attending as well).
Spaces outside the venue enable attending filmmakers to advertise their films through posters and standees.
EMAILER CAMPAIGN
Unfinished feature-lengths submitted to the Viewing Room are also automatically considered for the Work-in-Progress Labs (Fiction and Documentary).
The graphics on the emailers advertised past success stories of the Viewing Room and the WIP Lab.
The emailers were circulated weekly from August till two weeks prior to the event, with only Early Bird discounts on submissions fees and no increase from the standard fee for last minute applications.
This enabled filmmakers sufficient amount of time to submit media as per the requirements, and to proofread submitted textual content for catalogue publication.
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WIP LAB Event Collaterals
Marketing collaterals circulated during the event, announcing the projects from the Viewing Room that were selected for the Work-in-Progress Labs.
