Sonal Sehgal’s Travellers only Indian script selected at TIFF Film Market

Travellers, a script by actor, writer and producer Sonal Sehgal has become the only Indian film project selected at the Toronto International Film Festival( TIFF) Film Market.

Ontario Creates International Film Financing Forum announced its selected participants on August 29. Of the 42 featured projects, Indo-French co-production Travellers is the only Indian script to make the cut. 

Actor/ producer Sonal has written the film and will also be playing the lead role in it. The film will be helmed by French director Pierre Filmon and produced by Almano Films based in Paris, France. Sonal is the Indian Producer of Travellers. The film will be entirely shot in Benaras.

Honoured by the selection, Sonal said, “Being selected at the TIFF Film Market is a huge honour and an opportunity. Some of the biggest studios – Netflix, Searchlight Pictures, Universal Pictures – to name a few, are all going to be there at this market to partner with projects like ours which are at the development stage."

Travellers was also part of the Hong Kong International Film Financing Forum (HAF) which took place in March 2022.

This is the second time Sonal is working on an Indo-French co-production. Her last film, Lihaaf, which released in India on Voot in 2021, was co-produced by Academy Award-winner Marc Baschet. Sonal had co-written the script of Lihaaf and also played the lead role.

This is also the Sonal's second time helming an International co-production, after Manny, a sci-fi feature which she produced in collaboration with Marana Productions, Latvia. 

Pierre Filmon is a Camera d’Or-nominated director for his documentary Close Encounters With Vilmos Zsigmond (2016), which was in the Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival that year. His latest film Jerry Schatzberg, Landscape Portrait  will premiere in the Official Selection at the Venice Film Festival 2022.