MIRAJ FILMS est une société de production de films basée à Londres.


Productrice / Gérante
Rajita SHAH

Producteur
Barney PLATTS-MILLS

A film is – or should be – more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what’s behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.
– Stanley Kubrick

MIRAJ FILMS is a feature film production company based in London.

Our core vision is to produce independent films and form co-productions to create a new generation of international films. We will produce truly collaborative films; which reflect the old and the new; which have no boundaries and a true vision.

The producers have produced films in Israel, Morocco, India, USA and the UK. We have won several awards including the Golden Leopard from Locarno, National Geographic Prize, Jury award at Hong Kong Film Festival and many more. We have also screened at festivals like Cannes, Venice, Rotterdam (IFFR), Chicago Film Festival and BFI London Film Festival amongst others.

After being founded in 2010, the company completed production on feature film « Zohra- A Moroccan Fairy Tale » filmed in Morocco and directed by Golden Leopard winning director Barney Platts-Mills which Premiered at Rotterdam Film Festival and was released with critical acclaim.

Currently, Miraj Films is producing and financing « The Hurricanes », a British comedy to be directed by Jonathan Lynn (The Whole Nine Yards, Yes Prime Minister, My Cousin Vinny).

The company was also awarded the MEDIA DEVELOPMENT FUND and now has several other projects in development, which have been selected officially at Toronto International Film Festival and London Film Festival Finance Markets.

PRODUCER/ MANAGING DIRECTOR
RAJITA SHAH

Born and raised in India, a graduate from SVA New York University, The producer completed her MA in Film & TV Producing at Royal Holloway – University of London. She worked for National Geographic and Discovery documentaries in New York before moving to London.

In 2007 Rajita produced « 4 Kilometers » which was shot on Bedouin Tribes in the unrecognized villages in the Negev, Israel. It won more than 15 awards, which include Grand Prizes from National Geographic, International Women’s Film Festival and Hong Kong Film Festival.

Thereafter she worked as a producer for the UK FILM COUNCIL agency B3media and worked on several award winning British short films funded by Arts Council and UK Film Council. They have officially been selected at BFI London Film Festival, East End Film Festival, Palm Spring Festival, Dresden Film Festival, Chicago Film Festival etc. and won more than 15 awards and nominations.

In 2010, Rajita founded Miraj Films and produced her first feature film « Zohra: A Moroccan Fairytale ». She was then selected as one of the 6 upcoming producers in Europe by MEDIA’s SOS program. She has also been selectively invited to the Cannes, Berlin, London and Toronto Finance Markets in 2012 and 2013.

PRODUCER
BARNEY PLATTS-MILLS

A major figure representing the Free Cinema and Neo-Realist movements in Britain, Barney Platts-Mills was born in Colchester in 1944. In the 60s, after discovering the free cinema movement, the idea of an accessible, affordable, independent model of filmmaking became an ideal, which continued to influence Platts-Mills filmmaking practice. In 1969 he established MayaVision Film Company and directed his film Bronco Bullfrog with teenage non-actors from the East End. The film received selectione a lunanimite pour semaine de la Critique at the Cannes Film Festival and also won the Screenwriters Guild Award for Best Original Screenplay. The film was praised by major critics worldwide.

His second film, Private Road (1970), starred Bruce Robinson, Susan Penhaligon and Micheal Feast and was awarded the Golden Leopard at LoCarno Film Festival. After 2 years of preparation and living in Glasgow, he made this third film Hero (1979) for Channel4 in ancient Gaelic with actors drawn from a Glasgow youth gang, which was an official entry at Venice Film Festival.

The directors classic award winning films became a part of British film heritage. During the last 30 years, Platts-Mills films gained great respect and have requested to be shown at retrospectives in Edinburgh Film Festival, Gijon Film Festival, The BAFICI and Copenhagen Film Festival. He was also paid homage and honored for all his works at the Dinard Film Festival in 2010. The British Film Institute (BFI) have restored and given a major release to the older films by Barney Platts-Mills, who has been quoted as an Iconic director by major critics and newspapers.

Barney was also a Governor and Honorary Life Member of the British Film Institute, Director of the Prodigal Trust – Inner London School’s video projects, Founding member of the Portobello Film Festival and Massive Videos where he supported young people in making their own films. A true believer of Free Cinema, Platts-Mills has recently founded a POP UP CINEMA in London, which provides free exhibition to independent films that have not found a place in UKs mainstream cinemas.

After 30 years, Platts- Mills has started directing and producing again completeing Zohra: A Moroccan Fairytale and is now developing his new feature Night Ferry.