Karthik Subbaraj to begin!

Director Karthik Subbaraj is all set to start a new venture called Stone Bench on the 10^th of November, the inauguration of which is at Sathyam Cinemas, Chennai.

Talking about the innovative initiative exclusively to behindwoods, Kaarthekeyen Santhanam, Head of Operations of Stone Bench says, “There are three segments in this enterprise, the first one being Bench Flix meant for promoting short and independent films only. Since Karthik Subbaraj came from the short film route to feature films, he is aware of the impediments and wanted to do something there. Benchflix.com is an online platform and we are like a distribution house here. Film makers can submit their films here and it will be scrutinized by Karthik and his creative team. The content that has the potential to be taken to the next level, will be taken through different avenues, the avenues being first the theatres, then the television, community screening and film festivals and wherever possible. Any revenue that is generated from these activities will be shared across to the film makers. We are trying to get the reach, recognition and revenue to the film makers here”.    

On the second section Bench Cast, Kaarthekeyen says, “It is targeting the way casting is being done in the industry. After many brainstorming discussions, we decided we could develop a platform that would help the talents and the film makers. There is a huge gap between these two and we are trying to bridge the gap. Currently casting is happening through referrals. Through Bench Cast, the process would be done in an organized and professional manner”. He was quick to point out that this model will definitely not be on the lines of model co-ordinators or advertising agencies. “We have created an online platform in such a way that the talents and the creators can interact and find a match”, he emphasizes.

“The third one is the Bench Subs which is all about subtitles. Although we had started subtitling some time back, we had not told the market. Therefore, we thought while we are launching this, we might as well tell the market that we have been doing this. We have already subtitled 25 films starting last year”.

Kaarthekeyen also furthers that Bench Flix of Stone Bench is only looking at short films and is not into feature films. “Anything over sixty minutes would come under the feature film category and we are not going there. We are here to promote short films. The current scenario has changed in such a way that the short film has become a portfolio for feature films. Short film making is all about the passion for film making where if we can give some sort of recognition and revenue, the film makers will keep doing short films. We are trying to encourage that”

Quite an interesting initiative and here is wishing the team of Stone Bench all the very best!