Mumbai: India will be the official country of honour at the upcoming Marche’ Du Film organised alongside the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in France, announced union minister of information and broadcasting Anurag Thakur on Wednesday.
“It is the first time the Marché du Film has an official country of honour, and this special focus will continue annually with different nations in the spotlight at future editions,” Thakur said.
Notably, France and India are also marking 75 years of their diplomatic ties. Prime minister Narendra Modi recently visited Paris to meet with president Emmanuel Macron.
As a country of honour, India’s cinema, culture and heritage will come under the spotlight during the opening night of Marche Du Films being organised by the Majestic Beach. There will be special performances by Indian choir bands along with folk music and fireworks. The cuisine served will be Indian as well as French.
The I&B minister also announced five new startups would be given an opportunity to pitch to the audio-visual industry at Cannes Next, a business development platform. Ten professionals will participate in the animation day networking.
The Cannes Film Festival will also feature the premiere of the movie “Rocketry” produced by R Madhavan. The film will be showcased at the Palais des Festivals on 19 May.
India has pitched five films under the 'Goes to Cannes Section' including “Baghjan” by Jaicheng Zxai Dohutia (Assamese, Moran), “Bailadila” by Shailendra Sahu (Hindi, Chhatisgarhi), “Ek Jagah Apni” by Ektara Collective (Hindi), “Follower” by Harshad Nalawade (Marathi, Kannada, Hindi), “Shivamma” by Jai Shankar (Kannada).
A cinema hall called the ‘Olympia Screen’ has been dedicated to India on 22 May for the screening of unreleased movies under which five films have been selected.
The festival will also screen Satyajit Ray classic “Pratidwandi’ in celebration of the centenary of the Bengali director at the Cannes Classic section Cinéma de la plage.
A dedicated India forum i.e., a one-hour conference is being organised at the main stage, comprising leaders in the entertainment sector to discuss ‘India as the content hub of the world’. The forum will be streamed online.
The minister also noted that the India Pavilion at the festival will have the sole focus on branding India as the ‘content hub of the world.’ The pavilion will be inaugurated on 18 May and will showcase Indian cinema across linguistic, cultural and regional diversities of the country and will serve as a networking platform for delegates from across the global community, aiming to establish international partnerships in film shooting, distribution, production, script development, technology, promoting film sales and syndication.
