India Pavilion inaugurated at Cannes Film Festival 2018

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : The inaugural session of the Indian Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival 2018 was held at Cannes, France.

Hosted by noted actor Sharad Kelkar, the Indian delegation present comprised Vinay Mohan Kwatra, Ambassador of India to France, Ashok Kumar Parmar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of I&B, Government of India, Prasoon Joshi, Chairman, Central Board of Film Certification India, Ms Vani Tripathi Tikoo, Member, Central Board of Film Certification,  Jerome Paillard, Executive Director, Marche Du Film Festival, Cannes Film Market, Huma Qureshi, Film Actress, Shaji Karun, Film maker, Jahnu Barua, Film maker, and Bharat Bala, Film maker.

The agenda of the delegation from India this year is to showcase diversity in films of our country while furthering collaborations with various other countries.

Speaking about the growth of the nation being well reflected through cinema,Vinay Mohan Kwatra said that what is happening in India currently is the unprecedented transformation in technology and the economy and that these growing externalities are reflected in Indian Cinema.  Jerome Paillard stated that Indian Pavilion is a very important tool to help connecting the worldwide European and worldwide community of films.

Speaking about Indo-French Cinema collaboration, Ms Vani Tripathi Tikoo said that India has a fantastic relationship with both Cannes film festival and the French film industry. She further added that in recent times films like Tamasha and Befikre were shot extensively in this part of the world and found great resonance with the narrative story telling between the two countries, according to a PIB release.

During the Inaugural address, Prasoon Joshi said that we should also reach out to young filmmakers who might not have access to a festival like Cannes and should organize many mini Cannes film festivals all around the world to help more and more filmmakers.

A round table discussion was also held to explore collaborations with countries like Brazil, Philippines, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Taiwan, Canada and New Zealand. The film commissioners from these countries discussed the opportunities and challenges for co- production with India.  Discussions were also held with the heads and management of various Indian studios and production houses to see how films in different languages could become more viable and what the government could do to help filmmakers in the country.