Guneet Monga Kapoor, whose film The Elephant Whisperers clinched the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short, earlier this year, has been appointed as the Breakthrough India Ambassador for 2023 by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). It has also announced a deadline extension of application by two weeks with the new deadline now being July 20.
Guneet is an accomplished film producer and BAFTA nominee. She is also the recipient of the Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and has been acknowledged by esteemed institutions such as the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the US Department of State's Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs.
Reacting to the news, Guneet, Founder and CEO of Sikhya Entertainment, said: "It's an honour to take on this Ambassador role, following in the footsteps of A.R. Rahman to help raise the profile of emerging talent across the creative industries in India. Having served as an industry supporter and jury member for BAFTA Breakthrough in 2022, I can confidently say that the scheme has benefited some outstanding independent Indian talents."
“I have witnessed careers accelerate with the type of unique platform organisations like BAFTA and Netflix can provide and forward to seeing the wealth of applications of homegrown talent this year,” she added.
Now in its third iteration, The BAFTA Breakthrough program, supported by Netflix, aims to identify, support and nurture the next generation of talent in the Indian film, games and television industries.
The BAFTA Breakthrough program was originally launched in the UK ten years ago and has been incredibly successful, supporting over 200 careers to date. It expanded to India in 2020 to identify and nurture a new generation of emerging creative talent across film, games, and television in the country. Grammy and Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman was earlier the BAFTA Breakthrough India Ambassador for 2020-2022.
The successful applicants of the programme will be eligible to receive a grant for supporting international networking opportunities. It will also include one-to-one industry meetings and group roundtable sessions Full BAFTA membership for a year, with the option to extend Global networking opportunities with industry and peer-to-peer Breakthrough cohorts Access to career coaching sessions and support with professional skills development.
Tim Hunter, Executive Director of Learning, Inclusion, Policy and Membership at BAFTA, said: "We are delighted to welcome Guneet as the Breakthrough India Ambassador this year. The programme is dedicated to identifying and nurturing new Indian creatives and will surely benefit from her exceptional talent and rich industry expertise as an accomplished producer and filmmaker."
"BAFTA remains committed to nurturing and creating a diverse and inclusive industry that champions creativity and originality and so we are pleased to also extend the application deadline by two weeks and encourage those interested to find out more and apply," he added.