Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Dr L.Murugan will lead an Indian Delegation to Cannes International Film Festival this year. Walking in traditional Tamil attire ‘Veshti’ at the red carpet on Cannes Inaugural day showcasing our rich Indian Culture Dr Murugan will be accompanied by filmmaker Ms Guneet Monga of The Elephant Whisperers fame, Ms Manushi Chillar, Indian actress, model and  the winner of the Miss World 2017, Ms Esha Gupta - acclaimed actress of the Indian Cinema &  Kangabam Tomba - acclaimed Manipuri Actor, whose restored film  ‘Ishanau’, is being screened in Cannes Classic Section this year.

The India Pavilion is being conceptualised and designed by National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad with the theme - ‘Showcasing India’s Creative Economy’ to the global community. The pavilion design has been inspired by the Saraswati Yantra, the abstract representation of goddess Saraswati, keeper of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom and learning.The colours of the pavilion draw inspiration from the vibrant colours of India’s national flag – saffron, white, and green, and blue. Saffron for the strength and courage of the country, white for the inner peace and truth, green for showcasing fertility, growth, and auspiciousness of the land, and blue for the law of dharma and truth. India has  a huge reservoir of talent and the Indian Pavilion will provide the platform to the Indian Film community  to sign distribution deals, greenlight scripts, crack production collaborations and simply network with the world’s major entertainment and media players.

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shri Anurag Thakur will address the Inaugural Session through a video message to showcase India as a global hub for content creation at the 76th edition of Cannes's festival.

Four Indian films have made it to the official selection in Cannes Film Festival. Kanu Behl’s Agra will be his second film to have its world premiere at Cannes, at the Directors’ Fortnight. His 2014 debut film, Titli, was unveiled at the 'Un Certain Regard' section. Anurag Kashyap’s Kennedy is being screened in Midnight Screenings and Nehemich in the La Cinef section of the Festival de Cannes. Apart from these, many Indian films are slotted for being screened in Marche du Films.
A restored Manipuri film ‘Ishanhou’, will be showcased in the ‘Classics’ section. The movie was previously played in the festival’s 'Un Certain Regard' section in 1991 and its film reels were preserved by the National  Film Archive of India. The Manipur State Film Development Society got the film restored through the Film Heritage Foundation & Prasad Film Labs.

The eclectic bouquet of Indian films being screened in the segments of both Festival de Cannes & marche du Films,  underlines that Indian cinema has truly come of age. 

A series of interactive sessions will be organised throughout the festival at India Pavilion. The key sessions planned are-

• Showcasing India as the Complete Filming Destination &  Co-Production engagement with Global Film Commissions will foster filming in India. It will not only give impetus to the growth of our film sector but also has potential to enormously boost tourism in the country. Incentives announced last year at Cannes, would be pitched to get more filmmakers to India.
• Facilitating distribution collaboration between Nations will break the barriers of our films travelling across world markets
• Engaging with other key Film Markets and Festivals of the World and drawing synergies for IFFI.
• She Shines: Contribution of Women in Cinema would highlight the women presence in filmmaking is more significant than just employment, it contributes to a greater cultural issue.
• Session on the format of ‘75 Creative Minds of Tomorrow’ started to nurture young film talents in IFFI, 2020,  would showcase its success story and also facilitate in getting more collaborations for it.

Cannes has always been special for both India and France and will  remain a coveted space for cultural exchange.Last year, India was the ‘Country of Honour’ at the Marche du Cannes. Now with the success of Indian Films at Oscars this year, of which RRR already has the world dancing to  “Naatu Naatu” and The Elephant Whisperers winning Oscar in the  Best Documentary Short Category shows the growing reach of our Indian Stories.

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Saurabh Singh