75 Years Of India-France Ties- India To Be the Country of Honour At Marche Du Film At The Cannes Film Festival

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on his three-country tour to Europe during which he met French President Emmanuel Macron who recently got elected for the second term as the president. At the backdrop of this meeting, India has been selected as the Country of Honour at Marche Du Film at the Cannes Film Festival.

The Country of Honour status that India has received ensures India’s presence as:
Focus country at the Opening Night of Marche Du Films being conducted at the Majestic Beach with emphasis on Indian cinema, its culture, and heritage. The evening would witness performances by Indian choir bands accompanied by folk music and fireworks. The delicacies served would be both Indian as well as French.

India is also a Country of Honour at the Cannes Next, which will enable five new start-ups to have an opportunity to pitch to the audio-visual industry; ten officials will participate in the Animation Day networking. Further, To mark India’s participation there would be the world premiere of the movie Rocketry produced by R Madhavan. The movie will be displayed in the Palais K of the market and will be released on May 19, 2022.

India and France are celebrating 75 years of diplomatic ties. PM Narendra Modi met the French President in Paris. The selection of India as a country of Honour at the Marché du Film is the first edition and this special category will continue annually every year with different countries in the highlight at future editions.

Being the Country of Honour India has received an opportunity to put across 5 selected movies at the ‘Goes to Cannes Section’. These movies are part of the WIP lab under the Film Bazaar:

1. Baghjan by Jaicheng Zxai Dohutia - Assamese, Moran
2. Bailadila by Shailendra Sahu - Hindi, Chhattisgarhi
3. Ek Jagah Apni (A Space of Our Own) by Ektara Collective - Hindi
4. Follower by Harshad Nalawade - Marathi, Kannada, Hindi
5. Shivamma by Jai Shankar - Kannada

A movie theatre named the Olympia Screen has been booked for India on May 22 for screening ‘Unreleased Movies’. Five films have been chosen under this category.
A remake of Satyajit Ray’s classic, Pratidwandi, will be displayed at the Cannes Classic section, Cinema de Plage.

A dedicated India Forum, a one-hour conference is being organized at the Main Stage, involving the leaders of the entertainment sector, and the agenda will be “India as the content hub of the World.” which would be live-streamed online as well.

This year the pavilion will carry the theme “India the Content Hub of the World”. It will portray Indian cinema across linguistic, cultural, and regional diversities of the country and will operate as a platform for delegates from across the global community to build network seeking to establish international collaborations in film shooting, distribution, production, script development, and technology, promoting film sales and syndication.