Hindi
Spotlight on India and UK at 16th annual event in Halifax, Canada
New Delhi: The spotlight at the 16th annual event in September in Halifax in Nova Scotia (Canada) will be on India
And for the second year in a row, the United Kingdom will also be highlighted at the event from 12 to 15 September.
Ms Laura Mackenzie, Director of Strategic Partners – one of the world’s top co-production/co-financing markets focusing on feature film, TV and multiplatform fiction – says "Strategic Partners held a soft focus on India to introduce a small number of India producers and officials to the event. This has already contributed to a Canadian film shot in India.”
The spotlight on India and the UK is timely, she said, adding that: “Momentum continues to build in the number of Canadian and International producers looking to collaborate with India and the UK is a natural co-spotlight given their experience in successfully capitalizing on their co-pro treaty with India many times."
Offering an intimate, organized forum for projects seeking financing, as well as those at an early stage – looking for the right partner, Strategic Partners’ linear program is designed to provide unparalleled access to international co-production possibilities – all under one roof.
The deadline for the Strategic Partners‘ call for producer applications and industry registrations is June 28. Application/Registration forms are now available at www.atlanticfilm.com/sp
Top Canadian and international industry players are selected to attend, including producers, investors, sales agents, funding agencies, broadcasters and distributors. Offering close to 1000 pre-scheduled one-to-one meetings, co-production focused roundtable sessions, cutting edge panels, visionary keynote speakers, screenings and receptions.
Strategic Partners is a convergence of talent and innovation, producing tangible results.
“It was at Strategic Partners that we were introduced to producer, Karen Shaw’s project Khoya in 2012. It‘s an interesting project and given our experience in International productions, we came onboard instantly," said Guneet Monga, producer, Sikhya Entertainment, India (Gangs of Wasseypur, Peddlers.)
"Guneet Monga and I connected during our participation in Trans Atlantic Partners, and further cemented the relationship at Strategic Partners,” said Karen Shaw, producer, Quarterlife Crisis Productions, Canada (Khoya, The Good Fence). “Khoya was shot in India, where we worked with Guneet, and the film is now in post production."
About Strategic Partners: An International Film, Television and Multiplatform Co-Production Market
Strategic Partners is a part of the Atlantic Film Festival family of programmes. Today’s Atlantic Film Festival is now a year-round celebration, growing beyond our eight-day cornerstone event in September to include ViewFinders: Atlantic Film Festival for Youth, alFresco filmFesto, Strategic Partners and Music & Image.
Hindi
Remembering Gyan Sahay, the lens behind film, television and advertising
From a puppet rabbit selling poppadums to Hindi cinema, he framed it all.
MUMBAI: There are careers, and then there are canvases. Gyan Sahay, the veteran cinematographer, director, and producer who passed away on 10 March 2026 in Mumbai, had one of the latter. Over several decades in the Indian film and television industry, he turned lenses, lights, and the occasional puppet rabbit into something approaching art.
A graduate of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune, Sahay built his reputation as a director of photography across a career that stretched from the early 1970s all the way to the digital age. He was the kind of craftsman who understood that a well-composed shot is not merely a technical achievement but a quiet act of storytelling.
For most Indians of a certain age, however, Sahay will forever be the man behind the rabbit. His direction of the iconic long-running television commercial for Lijjat Papad, featuring its now-legendary puppet bunny, gave the country one of its most cheerfully persistent advertising images. It was the sort of work that sneaks into the national subconscious and takes up permanent residence.
His big-screen credits as cinematographer include Anokhi Pehchan (1972), Pagli (1974), Pas de Deux (1981), and Hum Farishte Nahin (1988). In 1999, he stepped behind a different kind of camera altogether, making his directorial debut with Sar Ankhon Par, a drama that featured Vikas Bhalla and Shruti Ulfat, with a cameo by Shah Rukh Khan for good measure.
On television, Sahay was particularly prized for his command of multi-camera production setups, a skill that made him a go-to technician for large-scale shows and reality programmes. In an industry that has never been especially patient with complexity, he was the calm hand on the rig.
In later life, Sahay turned teacher. He participated regularly in masterclasses and Digi-Talks, often hosted by organisations such as Bharatiya Chitra Sadhna, sharing hard-won wisdom on cinematography, the comedy of timing in a shot, and the sweeping changes brought by the shift from celluloid to digital. He was also said to have been involved in a project concerning a biographical film on Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy.
Tributes from the film industry poured in following the news of his passing, with colleagues remembering him as a senior cameraman who served as a rare bridge between two entirely different eras of Indian cinema. That is, perhaps, the finest thing one can say of any craftsman: he kept up, and he brought others along with him.
