India receives red carpet honour at Cannes
Cannes, France, May 21 (UNI) India has made its presence felt in the ongoing Cannes Film festival.
A red-carpet honour was accorded lat evening at the main festival venue to the Indian Delegation of over 30 people, arrived here for the promotion of Indian Cinema.
Sadly, the Indians walked the red carpet not for the screening of an Indian film at the Grand Theatre Lumiere, since no such film is due to be screened at the main festival venue. It was for the late-night screening of the much-talked-about US film-maker, Michael Moore's docufilm,"Sicko".
'Focus India' beginning yesterday, the seven film package of Indian films, selected by Cannes Festival to inaugurate its 'Tout le Cinema du Monde'(Cinema of the World) section this year, was unspooled, over a period of two days. It was done at the Village International, the special pavilion put up for that Section, away from the main venue. The films selected include "Guru" by Mani Rathnam, "Lage Raho Munnabhai" by Rajkumar Hirani, and "Dosar" by Rituparno Ghosh. Other films are "Veyil" by Vasantha Balan, "Saira" by Biju,"Missed Call" by Toolsidas and Subramanian, and "Dharm"by Bhavana Talwar.
It has been a thoughtful choice made by the Cannes' selector, Sobczynski comprises the recent films of some established directors alongwith few new film-makers. Apart from Hindi, films in Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam and English had been included in the package, to give the viewers an idea of the diversity of the Indian film industry.The package has been termed as 'Focus India', and is meant to commemorate the 60th year of India's Independence (which has coincided with the 60th Cannes festival). The directors of the selected movies were present in Cannes to introduce them. They included Mani Rathnam and Rajkumar Hirani.
However, the opening of 'Focus India', on May 19 turned out to be a lack-lustre affair with no Indian stars in attendance. The opening film was "Saira", in Malayalam, which could not attract much response. Only about 100 seats were occupied, of which over a dozen seated the official delegation from India. Then again, in the typical Indian style, there were speeches by Serge Sobczynski, who had curated the package, by Alain Hayot of PACA, and by Asha Swarup, Secretary, India's Ministry of I&B. Not the best way to start a film-programme, when there are so many other events competing with it for eyeballs elsewhere at the same hour.
The subsequent shows of the Indian films however, attracted better crowds, and both Guru" and "Lage Raho.." had the house full.
The world premiere was also held on May 19 at the festival, of "Sicko" which is the latest effort of US film-maker Michael Moore.
A 53-year old Moore has been a controversial director whose earlier film "Fahrenheit 9/11", exposing the US aims in Iraq, continues reportedly to rile the American administration. The latter has recently hauled up Moore for allegedly violating the very old, Government-imposed sanctions on dealings with Cuba when, as a part of the filming of "Sicko", he took a few American workers to that country to see whether they could get better and cheaper treatment in Cuba.
"Fahrenheit 9/11" had won the top, Palme d'Or award at Cannes in 2004, so it is no surprise that the Festival invited Moore this year to showcase his latest film. It is however, in the Out-of-Competition category and thus not eligible for a prize. In "Sicko", Moore has taken on the very powerful Pharmaceuticals industry in USA, and has also exposed the abuses of the existing healthcare system in that country.
The film garnered generally enthusiastic response in Cannes at its screening from both the viewers and reviewers. Moore got a long, standing ovation. In the press-conference after the show, Moore clarified that instead of it being a mere critique of the US system, it was a "call to action", and he hoped that as done in other sectors, US would pick the best points from the healthcare available in some other major countries (which were shown in the movie) and adopt it locally.
The picture is planned to be released in US in end of June and, considering the strength of the Moore-bashers in the home-country, the response to the movie there may not be wholly positive.It was rumoured that four US drug companies had forbidden their employees from having any contacts with Moore while he was making the movie.It was also reported that after the movie had been completed, Moore on the advice of his lawyers had quietly shipped a print out.
The US in advance, had stored it at a secret place , prior to its being brought to the Cannes Festival for its premiere. All this controversy may do no harm to the commercial prospects of "Sicko".
UNI


Click it and Unblock the Notifications