HOOQ – the largest Video on Demand service in Southeast Asia – officially concludes its inaugural HOOQ Filmmakers Guild, and crowns India’s submission of Bhak as its winner. HOOQ will be funding a full season of Bhak that will live exclusively on its platform. Bhak was up against five other pilots From Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, all of which were selected From over 500 submissions across Asia.
“I am so excited to announce the winning entry and would like to thank all the filmmakers that were with us on this journey. The HOOQ Filmmakers Guild is a testament of great film talent all over Asia and we are so proud to helm the second season of the Guild as we look forward to producing more stories that will find their voice on HOOQ,” said Jennifer Batty, Chief Content Officer of HOOQ.
HOOQ FILMMAKERS GUILD 2017 WINNER!
Bhak, India’s top entry, is a colourful dramedy that follows the adventures of two ambitious young filmmakers who, after being pushed around by Bollywood, decide to take matters into their own hands leading to a vicious, yet hilarious roller-coaster ride of frustration, passion, betrayal, and love for Indian cinema. Bhak is written and directed by Arjun Chatterjee and Shreyom Ghosh From Big3 Media. Starring Sreecharan Rachakonda, Harssh Singh, Priyanka Nath, Akash Arora, and Balaji Manohar,Bhak explores themes of passion, betrayal and love, all while looking at the struggle of independent filmmakers with an acerbic wit.
Award-winning Indonesian filmmakers and HOOQ Filmmakers Guild judge, Mouly Surya, commented, “While it was truly a challenge to pick just one winner out of so many quality entries, Bhak made the biggest impression on us with its ability to balance the harsh truth of struggling filmmakers in Bollywood with hilariously placed humour. Finally, as all the best pilots do, it ended with a promise of great things to come in its story. We wish Arjun and Shreyom the very best and can’t wait to catch the rest of Bhak on HOOQ!”
Upon learning of their win and full-series order, writers and directors Arjun Chatterjee and Shreyom Ghosh shared, “We are beyond ecstatic at the positive reception of our pilot and very proud to have won and made it this far. This experience has been truly insightful and humbling for us. We want to thank HOOQ for giving us the incredible opportunity to tell this story and can’t wait to show everyone what happens next in the crazy story that is Bhak.”
HOOQ FILMMAKERS GUILD RETURNS FOR A SECOND SEASON IN 2018
With the 2017 competition closed, HOOQ calls upon film professionals once again, be it directors, producers or scriptwriters to send in scripts and treatments for a TV series idea they have. The five best scripts, regionally, will be given USD$30,000 to produce a pilot episode which will premiere on HOOQ. Submissions can be From Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia and the best pilot will be converted into a full series exclusively on HOOQ in 2019. Following the success of 2017, the format of judging will follow the same rules where a star-studded judging panel consisting of the top film talents around Asia, together with HOOQ subscribers’ viewership, will decide the winning entry to be produced into a complete season.
HOOQ Filmmakers Guild 2018 commences From mid-May and will be open for entries until 31 July 2018. Applicants must be working as professionals in the film industry with prior film production experience. They are to submit the script and treatment for a series with a maximum of 13 episodes for a single season to qualify. There will be no restriction to genre, however submissions and productions must be in the language of the applicant’s country. The complete panel of judges will be announced soon.
HOW TO GET HOOQ
It’s easy to get HOOQ’d. Customers can simply download the HOOQ app From Apple Store or Google Play, sign up or log in, to access HOOQ’s extensive library of Hollywood and Asian hits. Find out more and sign up today for a complimentary trial at www.hooq.tv and pay for the subscription through credit card.
