Onir's french connection

Come Feb, Onir���������s ���������I Am��������� will have a theatrical and DVD release in France
It���������s a double bonanza for Sanjay Suri and Onir. First, the script of the duo���������s next production, ���������Chauranga���������, set in Jharkhand, has won the Incredible India Award at the co-production market of Goa Film Bazaar, IFFI. The bigger news is that Onir���������s ���������I Am��������� starring Sanjay Suri, Juhi Chawla, Nandita Das and Rahul Bose, among others, will now be released in France.
Says Onir, ���������It is a matter of great pride that the script of ���������Chauranga��������� has been so well-appreciated during the pre-production stage. Of the 23 projects, including those of Dibakar Banerjee and Ketan Mehta, Bikas Mishra���������s script won the prestigious award (instituted by the ministry of tourism) of USD 20,000 for the best project. This prestigious award was followed by the G������teborg International Film Festival Fund from Sweden, where ���������Chauranga��������� has been selected for script funding and has been awarded USD 15000. Talks are on with a German production house to come on board with us as co-producers for this movie. It seems like Jharkhand is finally going global with its untold stories.���������
For those not in the loop, ���������Chauranga��������� will be directed by Mishra, who hails from Hazaribagh. He had recently made a short film titled ���������Naach Ganesh��������� that was screened at the Busan International Film Festival and was selected at the Rotterdamn International Film Festival. Casting for the movie will begin in January when Team ���������Chauranga��������� goes out on a seven-city tour to conduct a talent hunt for the main cast. The film, which is based on a true story of a tragic subject of honour killing, is about a lower caste Hindu boy who is mercilessly killed because he wrote a love letter to an upper caste Hindu girl.
Meanwhile, the French-subtitled ���������I Am��������� will have a theatrical and DVD release in France. The other Indian movie to have had a French release is Satyajit Ray���������s ���������Abhijaan��������� starring Soumitra Chatterjee and Waheeda Rahman. ���������It feels so good that the same production house that released a Ray movie in France, is also instrumental in releasing ���������I AM��������� there. We are eyeing a February release and also planning a small premiere in Paris. This is a huge achievement for an indie filmmaker,��������� Onir says.
Sanjay Suri says, ���������France has one of the most evolved cinema-going audience and I am happy that the French will be able to see contemporary Indian cinema.���������