Abhay Deol, Pankaj Kapur's films chosen for South Asian Film Market

Singapore: Actors Abhay Deol and Pankaj Kapur's films are among the 11 projects chosen for the first edition of the South Asian Film Market (SAFM).

SAFM was launched at the Singapore South Asian International Film Festival on Saturday.

SAFM includes a selection of 11 filmmakers and their projects and gives them an opportunity to showcase them for a jury, which includes producers like Marc Baschet, Shaailesh R. Singh and Saurabh Gupta.

Through this initiative, SAFM intends to introduce promising new filmmakers to the world of independent cinema.

The 11 projects chosen for the first edition of SAFM are Pankaj`s "Aadi" (The Beginning), Kartik Aryan and Adil Hussain`s "Barasinghey", Abhay`s "JL50", Sanjay Mishra and Pankaj Tripathi`s "18 Not Out", Chandan Roy Sanyal`s "So Sicily", Shreyas Talpade`s "Khwaish", Prabhjit Dhamija`s "Samir", Leena Manimekalai`s "Maadathy", Rahat Kazmi`s "Country Of Blind", Somnath Sen`s "Charulata" and Harish Vyas` "Hum Bhi Akele Tum Bhi Akele".

"Aadi (The Beginning)", "Barasinghey", "JL50", "18 Not Out" and "Khwaish" are directed by Amish Srivastava, Suraj Jaiswal, Piyush Pandey and Shailender Vyas respectively.

"So Sicily" is actor Chandan Roy Sanyal`s directorial venture and also features him in the lead role. 

The inaugural edition of SAFM is presented by the Singapore South Asian International Film Festival in association with Cradle Private Limited.

"We have selected 11 exciting projects which have some really interesting stories to offer. We also believe that the filmmakers who would be showcasing these projects have immense potential and would be a welcome addition to the world of Independent cinema," Piiyush Singh, co-founder of Singapore South Asian International Film Festival, said in a statement.

"We intend to create the South Asian Film Market as a viable platform that can help promising independent filmmakers and their projects from the South Asian diaspora through financing, production, distribution and other allied activities. And the journey has just begun."

Elaborating about the inaugural edition of SAFM, Abhayanand Singh, Chairperson, Singapore South Asian International Film Festival, said: "SAFM aims to bridge the gap between creativity and finance. The film industry globally is a very closed industry and SAFM intends to disrupt that by introducing fresh money into feasible projects. We hope that this helps a lot of filmmakers to realise their dreams of telling their stories to the world."