New Co-Production Treaty Announced Between Canada and India

February 24 2014

The Documentary Organization of Canada and the Indian Documentary Foundation applaud the signature of a co-production treaty signed today by Canada’s High Commissioner to India, Stewart Beck, and India’s Minister of State, Information and Broadcasting, Manish Tewari. This treaty was signed on the occasion of His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada?s, state visit to India.

This agreement paves the way for screen-based content creators in both countries to formalize existing relationships as Canadian producers have informally been working with India’s talented pool of writers and storytellers. The agreement will further allow new business relationships to flourish between the two countries.

Recent Canadian documentary productions such as The World Before Her (dir. Nisha Pahuja), The Market (dir. Rama Rau) and Mallamall (dir. Lalita Krishna) speak to the interest Canadian filmmakers have of telling stories set in India, while the numerous international awards garnered by these films attest to their appeal the world over.

For its part, Indian documentary has been growing in confidence and international success, as evidenced by recent films like Powerless (Fahad Mustafa/Deepti Kakkar), Fire In The Blood (Dylan Mohan Gray), Gulabi Gang (Nistha Jain) and Char, The Island Within (Sourav Sarangi).

Sophy Vsivaraman, Executive Director of the Indian Documentary Foundation says: ?This treaty will solidify the long standing friendship and partnership between Canadian and Indian documentary, and enable Indian filmmakers to benefit from the depth of skills and expertise in the Canadian industry?.

Both organizations are confident this co-production treaty will benefit the documentary genre and will hopefully spur broadcasters to broadcast more documentaries in prime time viewing.

For her part, Pepita Ferrari, director and chair of DOC states: ?This new co-production treaty between Canada and India is very timely given the recent accolades on the world stage for documentaries on subjects particular to India produced by filmmakers from our two countries. It is a great example of how documentary allows us to share our stories to inspire and unite people around the world.?

Canadian documentarian, Elisa Paloschi (Driving with Selvi) is among members of the Canadian delegation traveling with His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, and clearly wishes to continue the award-winning trend for Canadian documentaries with the upcoming release of her film.

Paloschi says: ?As a Canadian filmmaker currently working in India, I?m honoured to be here to bear witness to this historic moment. It?s exciting to imagine the creative cross-pollination that this treaty will encourage, and the ways in which our documentary industries will grow together.?

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The Indian Documentary Foundation (IDF) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the promotion, development and outreach of documentaries in India and about India. It recently organized Good Pitch2 India, which brought more than 60 organizations together with 6 filmmakers to forge alliances and partnerships for their films. Driving With Selvi was among the films selected.

The Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) is the voice of Canada?s independent documentary creators. DOC champions the production and distribution of documentaries across all platforms; advocates on behalf of creators and producers; and connects and strengthens the Canadian documentary community.

Media inquiries and info:
For IDF: +91 2226730559
Sophy Vsivaraman
Executive Director

For DOC: +1 (416) 599-3844 ext 1
Lisa Fitzgibbons
Executive Director