India in focus at Cannes

New Delhi, May 15: India will be in focus at the latest edition of the Cannes film festival beginning tomorrow as the 60th anniversary of its Independence coincides with the 60 years of the prestigious film festival.

There will be a ''red carpet walk'' for India at the Cannes Film Festival on May 19.

Two ''India focus'' days have been allotted in the 'Tous les Cinemas du Monde' section or ''All Cinemas of the World'' section at the Cannes film festival which will witness screening of seven Indian films including Mani Rathnam's Guru (Hindi), Raj Kumar Hirani's 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' (Hindi), Rituparno Ghosh's 'Dosar' (Bengali), 'Veyil' (Tamil), 'Dharm' (Hindi), 'Saira' (Malayalam) and 'Missed Call' (Hindi/English).

Included in the Tous les Cinemas du Monde section, inaugurated by the Festival de Cannes in 2005, are films representing the best of world cinema.

India is also the partner country at the opening dinner of the Cannes Film Market as also the spotlight country at the Producers' Network this year. The coincidence of 60th anniversary of Indian Independence and Festive de Cannes is a golden opportunity. By the sheer diversity of styles, subjects, and languages we can truly say that Indian cinema is the very expression of democracy,'' said Serge Sobczynski, head of the All Cinemas of the World section, Cannes Film Festival.

For the first time, the Union Ministry of Tourism will brand India at the Cannes Film Festival. They have taken around 19 spots at important locations at the Nice Airport and at Cannes for the 'Incredible India' campaign.

Leading the Indian participation at this year's Cannes filmfest will be senior officials of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, industry leaders, besides a galaxy of film stars.

Lending glamour to the event with their presence would be a galaxy of Bollywood stars, including the hottest celebrity couple in tinsel town Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, Shilpa Shetty, John Abraham and sultry siren Bipasha Basu.

While Abhishek and Aishwarya will be present in connection with the screening of 'Guru', John and Bipasha will be at the Cannes to promote their forthcoming film 'Goal'. Also gracing the film festival will be filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh, who will be there in connection with screening of his 'Dosar', filmmaker Rakeysh Mehra (who will be promoting the English version of last year's hit 'Rang De Basanti') as well as Ronnie Screwvala of UTV.

Over 80 companies will position themselves at the Cannes taking 150 films (mainly for the market section) and 35 new projects.

At Cannes this year, we will engage with the world in reaching out to the heart and the mind. We will do business, promote our product and work on co-production deals. The idea is to get to the world audiences to see Indian cinema and become familiar with our new young aesthetic language,'' said Bobby Bedi, Chairman of the CII National Entertainment Committee. This year's efforts for India's participation have been coordinated by the CII Brand India Committee headed by Mr Nandan Nilekani, CEO and Managing Director, Infosys.

The Indian Pavilion at the Cannes film market, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry at the Village International, will have representation from across the country and participation include production companies, line producers, post production studios and exporters. This year, over 20 exhibitors from India will showcase their products and projects at Palais and the India Pavilion on the sea front along the ritzy croisette.

The Film and Television Guild of India, the Film Federation of India and South Indian Film Exporters Association are also part of the India Pavilion. The India participation also includes over 40 independent filmmakers and producers across the country looking out for new ventures and collaboration.

Among the major production houses who will be promoting their forthcoming ventures at the Cannes film festival are UTV, Kaleidoscope, Studio 18, Eros, Adlabs, I-Dreams and Planman films.

The UTV, which will be represented at the Cannes by its CEO Ronnie Screwvala and its Executive Vice president Marketing, Distribution&Syndication, Siddharth Roy Kapur, will be promoting three of its forthcoming films - 'Jodha Akbar', 'Goal' and 'Metro'.

Also having a grand presence at the festival will be Planman Motion Pictures headed by management guru Arindam Chaudhuri. The company, which will be represented at the Cannes by Prof Chaudhry and CEO Planman Motion Pictures Shubho Shekhar Bhattacharjee, will be promoting five of its films to be released in the current financial year.

While I-Dreams have six new movies for distribution, Bobby Bedi's 'Kaleidoscope' will unveil all its grand projects, which are related to its yet to be made magnum opus Mahabharata.

The Entertainment Society of Goa will participate at the India Pavilion projecting shooting at Goa and the film festival later this year in the state.

CII has brought out the India the Big Picture book - an essential guide to connect with the movie business and this will be released at the Cannes on May 17. The objective of India showcase at the India Pavilion is to promote India as a shooting and post production hub, facilitate India pavilion members to meet sales agents and producers, promote International Film Festival of India, Goa (November 23 to December 3, 2007) and Goa Content Market (organized by CII) (November 23 to 27, 2007).

Over a dozen Indian movies are being screened at the Cannes Film Market, which include the forthcoming period drama 'Jodha Akbar', directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar.

UNI