Richa Chadha And Ali Fazal’s Pushing Buttons Studios Win French Grant For First Production
I believe that for a long time, bigger production houses have ruled the film industry. Many casting decisions and filming decisions have been made from very political and selfish stances. However, it can be seen that many are paving their own path and producing their own movies or series so that they can have complete autonomy over the project they are passionate about. In line with this, the news of Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal owned Pushing Buttons Studios has gotten a French grant for their first production, Girls Will Be Girls.
Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal collaborated to create Pushing Buttons Studios and they have gotten the prestigious French grant called ‘Aide aux cinemas du monde’ for their first production called Girls Will Be Girls. Apart from them, the film will also be co-produced by Claire Chassagne of Dolce Vita Films and Pooja Chauhan and Sanjay Gulati of Crawling Angel Films.
Girls Will Be Girls is a female-led drama written by Shuchi Talati which I am super excited to see. The film is about a relationship between a mother and daughter and explores both of their coming-of-age stories. This concept has my attention. ‘Aide aux cinemas du monde’ grant is a French grant focused on funding foreign filmmakers who want to make unique films and is handled by CNC and Institut Francais. Shuchi Talati spoke of the grant with a lot of excitement and said, “When I got the news from our French producer Claire Chassagne, I just stared at my phone screen. Getting Aide six Cinémas du Monde had been one of my goals for years while I was writing the script. But I always told myself—it’s very competitive and we probably won’t get it and that’s alright. So it was a bit crazy to actually receive it! I teared up and called our team to celebrate. So many incredible films have won it in the past so this is a huge validation. And of course the grant money is huge boost for us to be able to make the film the way we want to, without any creative compromises!”
Also Read: Richa Chadha Revealed How Ali Fazal Proposed To Her And It Shows Their Relationship Is A Perfect Mix Of Romance And Comfort
Ali Afzal said he and Richa Chadha are happy that they are making the right choices for their first production. He also expressed gratitude towards co-producer Claire Chassagne and writer Shuchi Talati. Pooja Chauhan and Sanjay Gulati of Crawling Angel Films spoke about how competitive the Aide six Cinémas du Monde grant can be and the confidence winning this French grant has given them, according to sources. Their script was also selected in the Jerusalem Script Lab and Berlinale Script Station this year.
It gives me a lot of joy seeing individual production houses do so well. Considering how much flack the film industry has gotten for supporting nepotism and being unfavourable to newcomers. Huge congrats to Richa Chadha and Ali Afzal and everyone else involved in this project for winning such a prestigious French grant. And to say that I am really looking forward to Girls Will Be Girls is an understatement.
