Numero Uno, Shringar strike deal with Rossellini

New York-based Rossellini Associates, Sanjay Khan’s company, Numero Uno and Shyam Shroff’s distribution house, Shringar Films, have got together in the business of distributing small-budget foreign films. The first film they have brought to India is Life Is Beautiful, a sensitive film set in a concentration camp in Italy that has won several international awards.

Gil Rossellini, the owner of Rossellini Associates Inc, New York, was in Mumbai for the film’s launch. He was visibly excited about conducting business in India despite the fact that the film industry is possibly at its lowest ebb. “We’re here to deliver good quality films. The films that we are talking about target only the segment that is interested in alternate cinema. Under the existing circumstances, only if you have access to film festivals can you go and see such cinema. And film festivals are not conducted on such a large scale here that large audiences can attend,” he explains.

Adds Rossellini, “In India, when it comes to audiences, the sheer size is daunting. If even about two to three per cent of the populace comes to watch our films here, it still adds up to over 12 million people. This is a huge figure, which is almost as large, if not larger than the entire US movie-going population. And we tell you this after a lot of research.”

The focus of the company is to attract a small, interested audience. In the know of the local market is actor-director Sanjay Khan’s company, Numero Uno, with which Rossellini Associates has tied up. It was, reveals Rossellini, also Sanjay Khan’s expertise that led them to come to this very specific and focused decision. “He thought it was a good idea, and we needed to make an entry along with someone who knows the Indian market. Shyam Shroff and I believe he does. “Shyam Shroff of Shringar Films has been distributing similar films in various English languages in the past. His experience will only add to the company,” he says.

Rossellini Associates will not be involved with marketing and advertising the films, however, says Rossellini. It will take care of acquiring distribution rights alone.

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