Please note David passed October 9, 2019. All links he included here are no longer active however we will recover the linked documents and publish here directly in due time
June 24, 2018
To Whom It May Concern:
I write enthusiastically to recommend MANAV WADHWA as a filmmaker and producer. Upon meeting Manav in late 2009, I was struck by his extraordinary attributes: a rare combination of creative and technical skills, reinforced by sophisticated cultural and educational foundations that made him singular and led to our decade of collaboration on projects of mutual interest. Born in Katmandu, schooled in Singapore and Syracuse University (by coincidence, my own alma mater) with a diverse matrix of global influences, I instantly sensed a boundless potential.
Manav sought me out to learn about my past experiences with hybrid motion picture projects; my 1985 film Kiss of the Spider Woman successfully converged subject matter and production elements from both the Americas to become a surprise hit at Cannes and Oscar-winner that spawned a groundbreaking film business paradigm shift known as “indie-prod.” Serendipitously, when I first met with Manav I’d already begun developing a hybrid venture designed to merge the world’s two major movie-making cultures, Bollywood and Hollywood. To my amazement, he had focused on this very same topic for his college thesis and, through subsequent interactions, it became clear that Manav Wadhwa’s sensibilities were uncannily aligned with the goals of the project: As a unique cultural bi-product of East & West I saw Manav as a direct reflection of the “Bolly-Holly” fusion film I had been envisioning with my longtime collaborator, Paul Schrader. We formalized a relationship that would fuse business, mentorship and friendship; Manav was brought on as a co-producer of our Xtrme City project and thus began a multiyear development adventure between Los Angeles & Mumbai, culminating in a spectacular A-list meeting in Berlin:
BOLLY-HOLLY FUSION PROJECT_press sampling.pdf
Assembling trans-cultural talents of iconic stature like Shah Rukh Khan, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader (among others) was a lofty goal for anyone; if realized, it could become more of a global event than simply a movie project. Although to date this dream film has not yet been made (due to daunting challenges of harmonizing megastar schedules) Manav Wadhwa’s resourcefulness, analytical ability, and indomitable spirit were an invaluable part of the journey; Manav was instrumental in orchestrating not only the pivotal Berlin meeting, he also enabled essential cross-cultural creative understanding between director Schrader and screenplay co-writer, Mushtaq Sheikh; on the business side, Manav brought our Bolly-Holly fusion concept to funding sources like Anand Mahindra (India’s leading automotive industrialist, a Harvard grad with a boundless passion for cinema) and was influential in engineering other vital steps to move this ambitious venture effectively towards production. Concurrently, Manav’s Blinking Peacock Productions collaborated with me on the making of a documentary film-short* focused on the personal evolution of Shah Rukh Khan, synchronous with the potentially strategic role of Xtrme City in the emerging global Bollywood zeitgeist.
* Bolly-Holly-Fusion Documentary28minutesVimeo streaming
Over the past decade Manav Wadhwa has worked for me in numerous capacities, most notably creative development, strategic planning, and meticulous analysis, on a range of mixed-media ventures, including the development of unprecedented 35mm film and related material archives (from both Kiss of the Spider Woman and Edie Sedgwick projects) into collectable works of art.
VANISHING CINEMA_A Tale of Two Writers
VANISHING CINEMA public art installation concept
Throughout this time, Manav has consistently provided knowledgeable insights from a millennial perspective with reliable notes and voluminous research on a number of developing projects -- such as Kalari! (a mini-series based upon the ancient Indian martial art with origins in Kerala); Wu-Show (a web-entertainment featuring Jackie Chan’s world-renowned wushu stuntmaster Eric Chen, Little K, screenplay by Paul Schrader about the notorious Tsarist-era ballerina, Mathilde Kschessinska (LITTLE K_Kschessinska Saga.pdf); in-depth analysis on Steve Bannon and Putin ideologue Aleksandr Dugin for a documentary (11-8 NUCLEAR BROMANCE treatment) and various Edie Sedgwick graphic-novel concepts.
Through my practical experiences with Manav Wadhwa’s multiplicity of creative, technical, and management skills, I can confidently attest that he would be a strong asset on any film project. He is an exceptionally hard-working, absolutely trustworthy, consistently positive individual who profoundly understands movie development process. I find Manav well prepared to persevere and succeed in the challenging, all too often frustrating, landscape of today’s show business.
Sincerely,
David Weisman
AGITA PRODUCTIONS, INC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Weisman
Academy Award Best Picture Nomination.jpg
[David Weisman is an American film producer, author, and graphic artist who is most noted for his films Ciao! Manhattan and Kiss of the Spider Woman (KOTSW). KOTSW won the Academy Award for Best Actor. The film was also nominated for Best Picture (the first independently produced film that was), Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. He is the brother of film director Sam Weisman]
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