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'Sexy Durga' among eight Indian entries at 39th Cairo film festival

'Sexy Durga' among eight Indian entries at 39th Cairo film festival

Cairo, Nov 22 (UNI) The hugely controversial Malayalam film 'Sexy Durga' is among the eight Indian films that will be screened during the 39th Cairo International Film Festival.

The Cairo festival, which kicked off Tuesday night with the Kate Winslet and Idris Elba-starring 'The Mountain Between Us', also has an Indian film in the competition section.
Marathi film 'Redu' by debutant director Sagar Vanjari, is the only Indian film in the competition for the prestigious Golden Pyramid prize.

Directed by Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad, who is known for his highly-acclaimed 'Paradise Now' and 'Omar', the Cairo festival opening film tells the story of human survival in the harshest conditions.
'The Mountain Between Us', which world premiered at the Toronto film festival in September, was screened to a packed audience at the Al Manara Hall in Cairo's Fifth Settlement at the opening ceremony.

"It is an honour to be the only Indian film in the Cairo film festival," said Vanjari, the director of 'Redu'.
The film, premiered at the Kolkata film festival last week, is also part of the competition section for Golden Peacock prize at the ongoing International Film Festival of India, Goa.
"I learned filmmaking watching many Egyptian movies," the Pune-born Vanjari said.

Set in the mid '70s, 'Redu' is about a short tempered, middle-aged man in a tiny village in Maharashtra, who is fascinated to see a radio for the first time in his life.
'Redu' is vying for the top honours in Cairo with films such as celebrated Chad director Mahamat Saleh Haroun's 'A Season in France' and Italian filmmaker Sergio Castellitto's 'Lucky'.

The other Indian films at the Cairo festival this year include 'Village Rockstars' by Assamese director Rima Das, 'The Idiot' by Ruchi Joshi and Sriram Ganapathy, and 'Machines' by Rahul Jain.

'Village Rockstars', which premiered in Toronto last September, is part of the Critics Week competition at the Cairo festival.
'The Idiot' will be screened in the 'Cinema of Tomorrow' competition for short films.

'Sexy Durga' by Malayalam filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharan is part of the 'Festival of Festivals' category along with the highly-acclaimed Hindi film 'Newton' by Amit V Masurkar.
'Sexy Durga' had drawn attention after it was controversially left out of the Indian Panorama section of the International Film Festival of India, Goa, following its selection by the jury earlier this month.

The other Indian entries are 'Agam' by Sumit Mishra and 'Cry Humanity' by Amshan Kumar.

Australia is the guest of honour at this year's festival, which runs up to November 30.

UNI XC JW RSA 1616

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