India in Cannes-2

Runumi G | Festivals & Contests, Movies, News & Events | May 14, 2008 at 8:17 am

There are five Indian films in one of the sections of Cannes this time, after all. All in the Short Film Corner section, which is one of the side-bar sections of the festival.

This, apart from Vijay Anand’s Guide which is being screened in the Classic section.

The five films, to be screened in the Short Film Corner section. are Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke (Of Haves and Havenots, 9 mins) in the Experimental Documentary sub-section, written & directed by Manoj Srivastava (currently a deputy director with the Directorate of Film Festivals in New Delhi), In the Land of the Nagas (30:05 mins) in the Documentary sub-setion, directed by Jaishankar Singh, Akela (Alone, 7:13 mins) in the experimental fiction sub-section (It’s an India-France-Singapore co-production), directed by Alka Mehta, Retirement (5:30 mins) by Tushar Joshi, and Viva Sunita! (3:45 mins) by Amitabh Sinha and Lolita Sarkar, in the fiction sub-section.

The Cannes festival website describes the Short Film Corner section thus: “Created in 2004 by the Festival de Cannes, the Short Film Corner is today the place to be for short film industry professionals: directors, producers, buyers, distributors, film festival programmers… It is also a buzzing environment for finding new talents, who benefit from exceptional conditions to promote their movie, to sell it or be under the spotlight. Therefore, the Short Film Corner offers a serious gateway to the world of feature films.

The Short Film Corner will this year showcase over 1,780 short films coming from around 80 countries. All these films, which include those from the Official Selection (Cinéfondation, short movies in competition), are digitized and will be permanently viewable by the Festival attendees on forty or so interactive screens.

The Short Film Corner has also strongly developed its web site in order to accompany its participants as closely as possible. The catalogue of all the registered shorts, as well as short film buyers video interviews are available on www.shortfilmcorner.com.

The people registered with the Short Film Corner are eligible to several specific competitions organized by official partners, endowed with over €50,000 worth of prizes. One of these contests focuses on the scriptwriting of a short to be produced, another will give participants the opportunity to direct on spot a short film using mini-cameras that will be provided.”

Is there anyone out here who can give us more details on these films and their directors? I know a little bit about Manoj’s film – from a press release given out by the Press Information Bureau which does not mention any of the other four films or Guide. It is mostly a silent film on street children of Delhi.

Vijay Anand’s Guide will be also part of the festival. Along with 34 other films, it will be screened in the Cannes Classic section (along with Mel Brooks Blazing Saddles, Arthur Penn’s Bonnie And Clyde, Don Siegel’s Dirty Harry, Robert Clouse’s Enter The Dragon, Lester James Peries’ Gamperaliya, Carlos Saura’s Peppermint Frappe, David Lean’s The Passionate Friends and This Happy Breed)

(The list in http://passionforcinema.com/india-in-cannes/ has been updated adequately)