Filming in India – Déborah Benattar

By Pickle November 1, 2022

Déborah Benattar
Executive Producer and Founder La Fabrique Films

After working as the audiovisual attache for the French Embassy in India from 2010 to 2013 in Mumbai, Déborah Benattar founded La Fabrique Films in 2013, a Production company based in Mumbai, India. La Fabrique Films manages and executes projects all over India & Sri Lanka with a team of strong & experienced professionals working on feature films, TV series, documentaries & commercials. Her international projects include feature films like “And tomorrow you will be dead” directed by Michael Steiner; “The best is yet to come” directed by Alexandre de la Patelliere et Matthieu Delaporte; “Fahim” directed by Pierre-Francois Martin-Laval; Maya directed by Mia Hansen-Love. Her Documentary Film “Animal”, directed by Cyril Dion, was selected for the Cinema for the Climate Section at Cannes Film Festival 2021.

Here is what Déborah has to say about her experiences of filming in India:

What fascinates her about India?

India is fascinating as it has an incredible variety of landscapes to offer. And apart from the variety of locations, one of the main advantages India has compared to several foreign countries, is that the technical crews are very skilled and experienced. It is always a great collaboration between the foreign and the Indian crew.

Visible changes after the formation of Film Facilitation Office

The Film Facilitation Office (FFO) has tremendously improved and speeded the permission process for international projects as well as the delivery of film visas for the cast and crew. We are hoping to see similar improvements in terms of permissions with other institutions: Indian Railways, ASI, DGCA, etc.

Thoughts on incentivising filming in India and Co-production Treaties

Once the government introduces incentives like other foreign countries, India will definitely become one of the best shooting destinations in the world. Also, we would really appreciate it if the government took care of a few hiccups like streamlining the taxation processes to make it a win-win for all.

On filming in post-COVID India The lockdown time has allowed us to become more creative and work more digitally. But we are very thrilled to go back to shoot and allow foreign and Indian crew to collaborate as they share the same passion for cinema.