Cannes Film festival: Indian delegation meets President of Film France

Indian Delegation explores co production opportunities with Film Commissioners of participating countries at Cannes Film Festival in France; Also Meets President of Film France and discusses on proposed amendments in India – France co production treaty.

The Cannes Film Festival is the star attraction for film buffs all over the world. This edition is also witnessing the efforts by the Indian delegation to project India as a preferred destination for foreign film makers.

The Indian delegation held a meeting with film officials from across the globe. The delegation, headed by Amit Khare, the information and broadcasting secretary sent a message that India is working towards making it easier for foreign film units to shoot in the country not only by overhauling clearance-granting mechanisms, but also by providing incentives like tax refunds and subsidies to international movie projects.

The efforts bore fruits as the after a meeting with delegation, Israel proposed India to be the focus country in Jerusalem Film Festival, 2020. The buzz created by the Hindi movie Newton in Israel was also highlighted by the Israeli Delegation. Israel also proposed the idea of making concept based films in India, with a focus on regional and small budget films.

The India Pavilion at Cannes Film Festival 2019 was also inaugurated and a special IFFI poster marking its Golden Jubilee Edition was also released.

A comprehensive Film Guide to showcase the importance of the film ecosystem and government incentives to shoot in India was also released.Officials also stressed about the growing importance of regional cinema in the country and the increasing role of states in giving incentive to shoot films.

India also highlighted the steps taken by the Government to ease shooting films in India through Film Facilitation Office that facilitates Single Window Clearance for film-makers
Government is exploring avenues to further incentivize foreign filmmakers to shoot in India.

The Indian Delegation interacted with key stakeholders of Cannes as well as other members of the film fraternity. To take advantage of availability of technicians and skilled professionals, the Delegation will showcase India as a post-production hub to promote collaborations for films with international production houses.

Thursday also saw screening of two Indian films, Lohardagga and Phulmania at the Cannes Film Festival. Lohardagga is a film based on the circumstances that force a youth to join naxal ranks.

Other film Phulmania is a movie made in Nagpuri language which has dealt with a key social issue concernig the state.The India Pavilion has been set up to showcase Indian cinema across linguistic, cultural and regional diversity, with the aim of forging international partnerships in distribution, production, filming in India, script development, technology, promoting film sales and syndication. It will serve as a platform for the Indian Delegates to meet International Delegates attending the Festival to promote networking with other countries and organizations.