Cannes, May 10 (UNI) Four National Award-winning films this year will be screened at the Cannes film festival market to help regional filmmakers find audiences abroad.
The Indian pavilion, which opened at the Cannes film market yesterday, is aiming to introduce the country's untapped regional talent in filmmaking to the global movie industry this year. The first day of the Cannes film market saw the screening of the Assamese film ‘Village Rockstars’, which won the Best Picture prize at the National Awards presented on May 3.
Directed by Rima Das, the film tells the story of a village girl dreaming to own a guitar and create her own music band. The other National Award-winning films, which will be screened at the Cannes film market, are Malayalam film ‘Bhayanakam’, which won the Best Director award for Jayaraj, Jaseri language film ‘Sinjar’ from Lakswadeep, which won the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Director for Sandeep Pampally, and Bengali film ‘Nagar Kirtan’ by Kaushik Ganguly, which won the Best Actor award.
'We want to celebrate our cinema in Cannes,' said India's Ambassador to France, Vinay Mohan Kwatra. 'We have a large delegation at the Cannes film festival this year, comprising representatives from the industry and the censor board, to promote Indian cinema,' he added.
The Indian Ambassador said the Indian pavilion would also promote the country as a location for shooting foreign films.
Malayalam director Shaji N Karun, Assamese director Jhanu Barua, Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chief and lyricist-screenwriter Prasoon Joshi and CBFC member Vani Tripathi are part of the Indian delegation at the Cannes festival this year.
'It was the Cannes festival that had discovered my film,' said Karun, whose debut film ‘Piravi’ had won the Camera d’Or mention at the Cannes film festival in 1989. 'My journey as a filmmaker started here,' he added.
Karun’s 1994 film ‘Swaham’ is the last Indian film to participate in the prestigious competition section at the Cannes film festival.
'The huge talent in Indian cinema is yet to be explored,' said Barua. “India is the next destination for the global film industry,” he added.
Actor Huma Qureshi, who played a leading role in Anurag Kashyap’s 'Gangs of Wasseypur', which was screened in the parallel section Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes in 2012, said it was important to share 'our stories' with the rest of the world. “My first film was screened in Cannes,” Qureshi said, referring to her role in ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani was scheduled to lead the Indian delegation to Cannes this year. 'Smriti Irani could not come because of her involvement with the Karnataka elections,' said Joshi.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is organising the Indian pavilion at Cannes this year in collaboration with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
The Indian pavilion will witness several sessions on promoting Indian cinema abroad and co-productions during the Cannes film market that will run up to May 19. 'Manto' by actor-director Nandita Das is the only Indian film in the official selection at the Cannes festival this year. ‘Sir’ by first-time director Rohena Gera is part of the feature competition section of the parallel section, Critic’s Week.
'Manto' will have its world premiere in Un Certain Regard section of Cannes festival on May 13 and 'Sir' will premiere in Critic's Week on May 14.
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