Akshay Jha on launching Cinema Salon, a curated showcase focusing on independent cinema | Interview

ACtor and intimacy train Akshay Jha has founded movie theatre beauty salon, a curated, travelling movie theatre show window designed as a global, experience-driven platform. Cinema Salon takes independent films beyond traditional distribution, creating intimate, ticketed screenings across cultural capitals worldwide.What is Cinema Salon?Cinema Salon introduces a new circulation model. Each showcase not only creates immersive audience experiences but also generates real audience data and sustained demand, strengthening a film’s market positioning and opening stronger pathways for OTT and distribution deals. It’s a format that extends both the cultural life and commercial value of independent films. In an interaction with HT, Akshay Jha spoke at length about the project, how it is modelled, and how it will be implemented to better position independent voices from India. (Excerpts)Akshay begins by saying that the idea of Cinema Salon evolved over time. “The first time this idea came to me, it was pretty much at a nascent stage where the idea was that the kind of audience that we need for indie cinema. Somehow, we are not able to reach them properly. We are trying to reach them in a way that we are try to reach an audience that is ready for a Dhurandhar,” he says.He continues, “Sometimes the audience may overlap, but usually they are not. We are trying to push a tangential style of filmmaking. It is not what we call mainstream. Our job is to make sure that the audience is ready for the kind of film that they are getting into. From there on, I started designing an experience around the film. We are taking a film, which is high on philosophy, poetry, and certain themes… and we want these themes to be carried across to the audience. But if the audience are not ready for it, how do you allow them to invest more and take more out of this piece of art? That's how the concept started forming.”The inaugural screening features Iktsuarpok / The Weight of Longing, directed by Dr. Omkar Bhatkar, a meditative, emotionally immersive film that moves beyond conventional storytelling. The film was previously showcased at the 22nd Third Eye Asian Film Festival, where Bhatkar won the Special Jury Prize for Best Debut Director. The screening will take place on 11th April at Alliance Française de Bombay, before travelling to cities like Madrid, Cannes, Paris, Rome, Berlin, London, New York, and Los Angeles. ‘The audience has the option to participate even more deeply’When asked about how Cinema Salon aims at creating the ‘immersive audience experience’, Akshay says, “Usually, when we go to watch a film, we watch it and then go home. We may engage in an online discussion with someone, but otherwise, if we go to a festival film, there is usually a QnA with the director. That is very film-oriented. Instead of that happening, I would rather see, let the audience who have experienced the film and its themes for the first time, engage with each other on the film. So the engagement is not curated around the director of the film, but around its themes. So the audience has the option to participate even more deeply, using very specifically designed engagement cards that will guide their conversation for the rest of the evening. Questions that help them introspect and which are aligned to the themes of a film.”“Artistically speaking, I am no one to judge good art or bad art. That's not the question," says Akshay when asked about how the films are being picked. "It is all art. Ideally, we need to work with films that are not getting the mainstream push or the festival circuit push. Within that, there are certain films where I can give them an experience: I am not just organising screenings, I am trying to give the audience something more. That is how the curation has been created.”Talking about certain films getting attention at international film festivals, Akshay says he became aware of it only a year ago. He adds, “I realised that film festivals track movies, from three to four years before they are even ready. Because they see how someone is associated with the project and is attached to a brand. Within the circuit, they have their own set of cards and fair enough. Then, I feel, the initial purpose gets diluted. If a film is executive-produced by Martin Scorsese, it does not need to be in Cannes! One can release the film worldwide anyway!” Akshay forsees Cinema Salon as a platform for creating more space for independent film distribution. He adds, “What I am laying a groundwork for right now is that I am travelling across Europe, then America, establishing collaborations with venues which are not traditional theatres but more art galleries and cultural centres. The easiest way I can explain it is to think of a particular experience as a ride, as a rollercoaster. This rollercoaster plays at the Alliance Française de Bombay on the 11th, then at Cannes on May 15, in Madrid on May 7, and so on. Think of establishing similar amusement parks all over the world, with filmmakers curating these rollercoasters.""We want to make sure that these rides reach different cities and find their own audience because the event is designed in a way that we are hoping to provide indie filmmakers a better revenue share than what mainstream theatres are able to offer them. For example, if we are going to Madrid, we can find a Spanish distribution. If we are in Cannes, we can find French distribution. It is a launchpad discovery platform, which does not go against any festival premiere because of the private screening, and it is not a theatrical release, so one has all the rights in place,” he concludes.