AK Studios Launches South Asian Film Slate at Cannes
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- AK Studios, founded by former NFDC Global Head of Distribution Awadhesh Kumar and recently launched in Santa Monica, is unveiling a South Asian film slate at Cannes focused on first and second-time filmmakers and international co-productions
- Vijay Jayapal (Nirvana Inn, Revelations) is directing "An Idiot," a dialogue-free absurdist political comedy loosely inspired by the 2017 assassination of journalist Gauri Lankesh, starring Abhinav Jha and Anupama Kumar
- Samman Roy is directing "The Undying," a gothic horror adapted from a Rabindranath Tagore short story set in 19th-century rural Bengal, starring Sree Bhattacharyya, Arpita De, and Biswajit Das
- Both "An Idiot" and "The Undying" are in post-production and being lined up for festival premieres later this year
- The slate also includes Ponselvam Karthi's Tamil-language debut "Adrift" — co-produced with India's Yellow House Pictures, Raging Films, and UK's Momentum Films — plus English-language psychological thriller "Dead Butterflies," billed as the first thriller set in Bhutan
- AK Studios' prior credits include Roy's folk horror "The Exile" and Thinesh Kumar's "Hucch," both picked up for worldwide distribution by Buffalo 8
Why it matters: AK Studios is entering a market the founder explicitly says is shifting toward "smart money, bold stories, and lean production" — betting that a slate of festival-grade South Asian co-productions, including a Bhutan-set thriller and a US-Germany-India Tamil drama in development, can secure global distribution without the overhead of traditional indie financing.
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