NEW DELHI: The India Pavilion at 111 Village International Riviera (Cannes, France) will be inaugurated by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore on 14 May, 2015.
Eminent people including Indian Ambassador to France Mohan Kumar, Marche Du Film Director Jerome Paillard, producers Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra and Bobby Bedi will also be present at official opening of the Pavilion. Marche Du Film is one of the most important film markets in the industry.
Two Indian films, Chauthi Koot by Gurvinder Singh and Masaan by Neeraj Ghaywan have been chosen under the Un Certain Regard category.
A session on journey to Cannes of the film Chauthi Koot will take place on the first day. A post screening reception for the film has also been organized.
FICCI is coordinating the India Pavilion at Cannes Film Festival with the Ministry for the second consecutive year.
The India Pavilion will showcase Indian cinema’s linguistic, cultural and regional diversity by showcasing trailers, displaying literature and brochures on varied aspects. The primary focus would of course be boosting co-production opportunities with countries India has signed treaty with, attracting international studios to shoot in the country and exploring new international partnerships in the realms of distribution, production, filming in India, script development and technology, and promoting film sales and syndication.
Also, the fourth edition of the ‘Indian Film Guide’ will be placed at the Pavilion for the delegates. The ‘Indian Film Guide’ is a comprehensive booklet with information on policy initiatives by the government pertaining to film sector, the listing of Indian companies at Cannes Film Market, Indian Films at Cannes and contacts of important people in the business of filmmaking.
FICCI along with the Ministry will be holding sessions on the sidelines of the festival. The sessions would focus on important aspects like co production agreements, international distribution – challenges and way forward and how to make films reach out to worldwide audience amidst a wider range of issues faced by the sector.
The sessions would have speakers with wide ranging experience in their fields and the likes of Film France COO Frank Priot, Telefilm Canada director international promotion Shiela de La Varende, Film London senior inward investment manager David Shepheard, CNC France director Pierre Emmanuel, ASAP Films producer Marc Baschet, Australia India Film Fund head Anupam Sharma, Special Treats CEO Colin Burrows, Indian filmmakers Nandita Das and Rishi Mehta, PVR Pictures president Kamal Gianchandani, Mongrel Media distributer Charlotte Mickie, Westend Films’ Eve Schoukroun, Dragongate CEO William Pfeiffer, Film London CEO Adrian Wooton and Cinestaan founder Rohit Khattar.
The Government is proactively supporting the sector and has even listed it among the 25 focus sectors under the ‘Make in India’ campaign.
Punjabi film ChauthiKoot (The Fourth Direction) is based on two short stories by Punjabi writer Waryam Singh Sandhu, titled Chauthi Koot and Hunn Main Theek Haan. The story is set in Punjab against the backdrop of the Sikh separatist movement in the ‘80s. It catches the mood of Punjab during the turbulent period.
Masaanset in Varanasi revolves around four key characters, that of a young orphan, a low-caste teenage boy, a girl and her father as they attempt to fight against the morality and traditions typical of the small town they live in. Their lives intersect tangentially when the low-caste boy, played by Vicky Kaushal, falls in love with an upper-caste girl and Richa Chadha’s character finds herself in a sex scandal. Her father Sanjay Mishra finds himself fighting the taboo but in him, the young orphan, played by Nikhil Sahni, finds a father figure.
