By Variety | Created at 2024-11-23 10:22:28 | Updated at 2024-11-23 13:37:42
3 hours ago
CAA has taken North American sales rights to psychological horror-thriller “Feral.” The project, set in 1950s India, already has Oscar-nominated producers Ron Yerxa and Albert Berger (“Little Miss Sunshine,” “Nebraska”) attached as executive producers. It heads to Film Bazaar as its creative team pursues further co-production partners and final financing.
The film follows two part-tribal sisters trained as servants by an English madame on a Himalayan colonial estate. The story centers on the estate’s shifting power dynamics after the arrival of the madame’s new lover, a singer/shaman scholar, as the sisters begin reclaiming their tribal heritage. The film will be shot in the English and Kinnauri languages. The project has previously found support from Sundance+WIF, Breaking Through The Lens and Film Independent.
Director-producer Nihaarika Negi (“Labours Of (An)Other Solipsist”) explores themes of colonialism through the lens of horror and magical realism. “As someone of a part-tribal identity from India, I was raised in a country that, despite being free of over 200 years of British occupation and slavery, still somehow nurses a colonial hangover that forever teaches us to negate our own heritage for the English one,” says Negi.
Producers Nancy Degnan (“Silent Notes”) and Tobias Reeuwijk (“1000 Hands of the Guru”) joined the project through their production company Autotelic Pictures, where Negi is also a partner, which focuses on socially relevant films centering marginalized experiences.
“Nearly every culture on the planet has experienced colonization either as a colonizer or the colonized – the impact of which we are seeing across global events today – making ‘Feral’ an inherently resonant, timely and deeply human story,” says Degnan.
Production is planned for the third or fourth quarter of 2025 in India. The project has previously participated in Chandigarh’s CIFF Film Market and Seattle’s Tasveer co-production market. At Film Bazaar, the team aims to secure additional co-production, post-production and distribution partners, while also meeting with international sales agents and festival representatives.
Film Bazaar (Nov. 20-24) is the project market component of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI, Nov. 20-28).
