The festival, which was hitherto focused on discovering Indian films and filmmakers, has pivoted to becoming, meaning films from India’s neighbors will also be showcased.
In addition, Daggubati’s family business Suresh Productions, established in 1964, has produced some 170 films in 13 Indian languages, operates a film distribution company with 400+ theaters, has three studio spaces in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam and a film school in Hyderabad. What Daggubati hopes to achieve at the festival via his companies is to break the independent cinema circuit out of its debt-ridden shackles, where financing in many cases is from high-interest loans, and ease it into a space where exposure and sales can be achieved.