Bipuljit Basu’s Redlight To Limelight has been selected for the Sheffield DocFest's annual MeetMarket, a prestigious documentary pitching forum.
Apart from this project, two other Asian films are among the 35 shortlisted promising work-in-progress projects picked from 25 countries.
The MeetMarket is slated to be held on 27 and 28 June in the United Kingdom.
Redlight To Limelight was also the only selection from India at the Dok Leipzig Co-Pro Market, which was held in Germany in October 2021.
Produced by Estonians Max Tuula and Maria Gavrilova, the film presentation will be showcased before more than 400 internationally reputed funders, broadcasters, distributors, festival programmers and exhibitors such as ARTE, BBC, Bertha Foundation, Catapult Film Fund, Channel 4, Chicken & Egg Pictures, Cinereach, Field of Vision, The Guardian, Google, National Geographic, Netflix, The New York Times, PBS, Sky, Sundance Institute, SXSW and Universal.
Martijn te Pas, former senior programmer of the International Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam, is creative head of the film.
This India-Estonia co-production is about a group of sex workers who formed CAM-ON, a film production house. in the Kalighat red-light area in Kolkata. Despite opposition, the community aspires to turn the area into a professional film colony in the post-pandemic era.
“SheffieldDoc MeetMarket is considered the largest and most influential film market,” said Basu. “Being selected for this forum means they recognize the potential of this Indian film and are ready to take the project forward to the biggest film professionals and investors.”
The filmmaker, who expects to complete the project in December, added, "It [the selection] opens the gateway. It is a huge opportunity for any filmmaker working in the Indian subcontinent."
Basu was confident that his film would make an impact. “Filmmaking is viewed as an elite job," he said. "Sex workers making films is still a taboo. Redlight To Limelight is going to be a game-changer for the community I am filming with.”