Fortissimo
Films, the Hong Kong- and Amsterdam-based sales agency, has picked up
international rights to Indian film Miss Lovely (pictured).
A
first film by Ashim Ahluwalia, Miss Lovely will have its premiere in
the Un Certain Regard section at this month's Cannes festival and there also
compete for the Golden Camera (Camera d'Or).
Set
in the lowest depths of Bollywood, the film is the story of two brothers who
become rivals after the younger falls for an actress that he meets on a train.
What follows is a lurid and melodramatic ride peppered with doomed love,
jealousy and revenge. Ahluwalia previously directed documentary John &
Jane.
Miss Lovely was produced through Future East by Shumona Goel,
Sanjay Shah and Pinaki Chatterjee and shot over a period of years by
cinematographer Mohanon. It stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Kahaani),
Niharika Singh and Anil George.
"With
Miss Lovely [Ahluwalia] compels us to enter this exotic, erotic and
visceral universe of the Bollywood underbelly that is so atmospheric, so
jarring and so unique that we can't turn away," said Fortissimo chairman
Michael J Werner.
Earlier
this week Fortissimo announced that it has also picked up sales rights to Simon
Killer, a US film which premiered in Sundance in January.
The
drama about an American student who falls in love with a European student is
directed by Antonio Campos. It was produced by Josh Mond and Sean Durkin of
Borderline Films, and Matt Palmieri, who also financed the film through
FilmHaven Entertainment.
Both
films will kick off their sales activities in Cannes, with Miss Lovely
offered in Cannes Market screenings as well as Official Selection showings.