Viacom to support two Indian/Australian co-productions

Viacom 18 Motion Pictures has partnered with Film and Casting Temple to make two Australian/Indian co-productions.

The first has the working title Project 18, to be directed by Abhinav Kashyap and set to shoot primarily in Australia. The second will the a thriller directed by Australia’s Bill Bennett, which will shoot in India.

India’s Business of Cinema reported that the two companies have “joined hands to utilise Australian funding and grants as well as to invest in Indo-Australian projects”.

Although there have been negotiations supported by SPAA, there is currently no official co-production treaty between the two countries. Unless a treaty is signed before the projects go into production, these films would have to utilise either the Location Offset (Project 18) or the Producer Offset (Bill Bennett’s film).