Filmmakers speak out against exhibition inequality, shrinking space for independent films

The filmmakers are some of the most celebrated names and have won awards at major international film festivals.

New Delhi: In a show of unity, 46 of Indian independent filmmakers including Payal Kapadia, Varun Grover, Anuparna Roy and Vasan Bala have issued a joint statement to demand fair access to theatres, saying they continue to fight "simply to be seen" despite their films being celebrated globally for expanding the idea of what Indian stories can be.

The filmmakers, who are some of the most celebrated names and have won awards at major international film festivals, cited the example of filmmaker Kanu Behl whose critically-acclaimed Agra has struggled to secure "fair and accessible showtimes across multiplexes despite significant audience interest, extensive media coverage and organic buzz.

"Over the last decade, Indian independent cinema has carried the country's creative identity to the world-premiering at Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Sundance, Locarno, Rotterdam and Busan.

"These films have expanded the idea of what Indian stories can be. They have been celebrated globally for their honesty, courage and craft. And yet, within india, these films continue to fight simply to be seen.This reality has resurfaced sharply with the limited release of Agra, directed by Kanu Behl," read the joint statement.

The filmmakers, including Nandita Das, Chaitanya Tamhane, Gurvinder Singh and Aamir Bashir, said what's happened with Agra is part of a long-standing systemic pattern affecting all independent films which routinely face severely limited screenings, morning only or weekday-only slots, sudden show cancellations, a lack of transparency around programming decisions and imbalanced prioritisation of big-budget releases.

According to the filmmakers, OTT platforms, once heralded as the democratic frontier, now increasingly rely on theatrical performance as a prerequisite for acquisition.

"This creates a 'closed-loop' ecosystem where independent films are asked to 'prove' themselves in theatres whle simultaneously being denied theatrical access... We are not demanding exceptional treatment. We are demanding fair access the right for indian audiences to discover Indian films.

"As a collective community of filmmakers, writers, producers and artists working across regions, we urge exhibitors, OTT platforms, policymakers and cultural institutions to address this crisis with structural reforms," they said.

The filmmakers demand that the showtime accorded to their films should have guaranteed minimum accessible show slots including at least one post-6 PM screen for all indian independent films releasing theatrically.

They want transparency in programming where there should be a criteria for screen allocation across chains to ensure fairness and accountability.

The filmmakers also want institutionalised monthly or quarterly indie cycles that allow discovery, visibility and audience-building and public-private exhibition support to create a national circuit for independent films.

Alankrita Shrivastava, Aditya Kripalani, Arati Kadav, Ruchi Narain, Raam Reddy, Honey Trehan, Leena Yadav, Dibakar Das Roy, Karan Talwar, Megha Ramaswamy, Devashish Makhija, Karan Tejpal, Bauddhayan Mukherji, Shonali Bose, Karan Gour, Dominic Megam Sangma, Bhaskar Hazarika, Aditya Vikram Sengupta, Haobam Paban Kumar, Tanuja Chandra, Diwa Shah, Hardik mehta, Sarvnik Kaur, Shlok Sharma, Shaunak Sen, Ajitpal Singh, Rahat Mahajan, Ronny Sen, Safdar Rahman, Akshay Indikar, Ashim Ahluwalia, Pradip Kurbah, Sharukhkhan Chavada, Rima Das and Sumit Purohit are among the filmmakers who have signed the statement.