We are happy to announce that the Austrian Film Institute has informed us today that scriptwriters Nicola Piovesan and Arno Krimmer have been granted a screenplay development grant for their animation feature film screenplay JOURNEY TO ENCODYA. Nicola Piovesan is also attached as director of the film. The film will be produced by Munich-based production house Ascending Entertainment and Vienna-based production house Ascending Film.

JOURNEY TO ENCODYA is based on the dystopian SciFi short film ROBOT WILL PROTECT YOU telling the story of tomboy Tina and her guardian android SAM-53 and their struggle to survive in Neo-Berlin 2062. The 11 minutes-animated short film has been directed by Nicola Piovesan and written by Norwegian scriptwiter Matt Willis-Jones and had a massive festival run - It was selected by prestigious festivals BIFAN in South Korea and SITGES in Spain and received selections for a total of 73 international film festivals, 3 of them being Academy Award-qualifiying festivals. There ROBOT WILL PROTECT YOU received more than 20 awards, nominations and special mentions.

Yay! Netflix International in Los Angeles has picked up the global streaming rights for ONCE AGAIN and has launched the film globally TODAY.
 

This good news was celebrated last night at ONCE AGAIN's world premiere at a cinema in Bandra, Mumbai. The premiere was anchored by Meenakshi Shedde, South Asia delegate of the Berlin International Film Festival. The screening was attended by director/writer Kanwal Sethi as well as actors Shefali Shah, Neeraj Kabi, Bidita Bag and Bhagwan Tiwari. Producers Arno Krimmer, Sanjay Gulati and Madhav Roy Kapoor were also present.
 

We were especially thrilled to welcome Bollywood superstar Anil Kapoor, globall known for his performances in SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and the TV Series 24.

For more photos from the movie's premiere click here.

To find out where to see ONCE AGAIN in a theatre nearby, visit: facebook.com/OnceAgainMovie

ONCE AGAIN, which screened at Film Bazaar’s Work-in-Progress (WIP) Lab, won the inaugaral Facebook Award at the close of this year's Film Bazaar in Goa.

Full article: screendaily.com/once-again-buddhagram-scoop-facebook-awards-/5111684.article

More info: facebook.com/OnceAgainMovie

Yes, we started rolling today. Today marks the first day of shoot of our German-Austrian-Indian co-production ONCE AGAIN and cast and crew are busy on the film's first set in Aram Nagar, Andheri West, Mumbai - This is very special for us as ONCE AGAIN is the first feature film produced by our newly founded production house Ascending Film!

ONCE AGAIN is the story of widow Tara who falls in love with an aging film star. The film stars Indian actors Shefali Shah and Neeraj Kabi in the lead roles - Shefali Shah is widely known for her performances in Zoya Akthar's DIL DHADAKNE DO and Mira Nair's MONSOON WEDDING while Neeraj Kabi starred in Anand Gandhi's award-winning feature SHIP OF THESEUS. 

The film is directed by Kanwal Sethi, a German filmmaker of Indian origin who earlier directed theatrically released German feature film FERNES LAND / JUNCTION POINT (2011), a film which had its world premiere at Max Ophüls Film Festival in 2011 and was also selected for MAMI film festival 2012 in Mumbai.

ONCE AGAIN is a German-Austrian-Indian co-production between Neufilm, Ascending Film and Jar Pictures and is co-produced with German broadcaster ZDF, is made in association with pan-European broadcaster ARTE and has received funding from German film fund MDM and other European institutions.

German production house Neufilm has earlier produced films Kanwal Sethi's debut feature film JUNCTION POINT (2011) and Jar Pictures has produced Meghna Gulzar's crime drama TALVAR (2015) starring Irrfan Khan and Neeraj Kabi as well as KILLA (2014) which won Crystal Bear for Generation Kplus - Best Film at Berlin Int. Film Festival 2015.

ONCE AGAIN's World Sales are handled by Paris-based sales company UDI/Urban Distribution International.