The Conqueror
TFI Suppport
Tribeca All Access® 2008
Logline
A Buddhist monk is stabbed and left to bleed, and the knife found in the possession of an eleven-year old apprentice...
Alka Raghuram
Writer/ Director
Alka Raghuram has an MFA in cinema from San Francisco State University. Her short films, Tired of Dancing, Panchali and The Ant and the Monkey have screened at various festivals. Panchali received the John Gutman award for innovation in cinema and was a regional finalist in the Student Academy Awards (2004). Her thesis film, The Ant and the Monkey, received the Emerging Arts Fund in spring 2006 from The Peninsula Community Foundation, and was nominated for the Princess Grace Award in 2005. Currently she is finishing a documentary about the role of faith in coping with grief and loss after the 2004 tsunami in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, India. The Conqueror will be her first feature. It was invited to participate in the Berlinale Talent Project Market, 2008.
Mahesh Mathai
Producer
Mahesh is the founder of Highlight Films, a production company producing advertising films, music videos, documentaries, as well as collaborating with foreign productions shooting in India. Highlight Films has produced some of the most successful advertising campaigns in India including Unilever, Asian Paints, Cadburys, Seagram, Philips, Proctor and Gamble, and Indian Tourism. They line produced the Imax documentary Mystic India (The Journey) for BAPS, and the feature 'Outsourced' for Seattle based Shadowcatcher Entertainment. One of the pioneers of music Industry in India, they partnered with Sony Music and BMG Records to launch the careers of Indian singer Lucky Ali and the band Bombay Vikings. Now the company is looking to diversify into developing feature projects for independent, quality films for a world market.
As a director, Mahesh Mathai’s critically acclaimed debut film Bhopal Express, set against the backdrop of the Union Carbide gas leak accident in Bhopal, India, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2000. His next film Broken Thread, starring Linus Roache, Saffron Burrows and Andrea Corr, awaits release.