South Asia shines at Cannes

Illustration/Uday Mohite

South Asia has at least 10 films and projects officially selected so far by the 75th Cannes Film Festival. The festival, that runs from May 17-28, has selected these from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar. Moreover, Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone is on the Feature Film Jury of the festival, alongside directors Asghar Farhadi and Jeff Nichols.

The South Asian films announced so far include Saim Sadiq's Joyland in the Un Certain Regard, set to be Pakistan's first film in Cannes' official selection. A patriarchal Pakistani family finds its moorings loosened, as a son secretly joins an erotic dance theatre and falls for a transsexual starlet. Sadiq's Darling earlier won the Best Short in Orizzonti at Venice. Shaunak Sen's magnificent documentary All That Breathes, that won the Grand Jury Prize (Documentary) at Sundance, is in Cannes' Special Screenings. It is a poetic, political film about two Muslim brothers who save injured black kites in Delhi. Abinash Bikram Shah's Lori (Melancholy of my Mother's Lullabies, Nepal, 14 min), in the Short Films Competition, explores lullabies to question a deeply patriarchal society. Pratham Khurana's Nauha (Eve of a Eulogy, 26 min), from Whistling Woods International, India, that explores the relationship between a senior citizen and his care-giver, is in La Cinef (La Cinefondation) section for film school entries. There are two restored Indian films in the Cannes Classics - Satyajit Ray's Pratidwandi (The Adversary, Bengali, 1970), restored by National Film Development Corporation -National Film Archive of India, and Aravindan Govindan's Thamp (The Circus Tent, Malayalam, 1978), restored by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur's Film Heritage Foundation, with The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project, Cineteca di Bologna, Prasad Corporation Studios, Chennai, L'Immagine Ritrovata Laboratory, Bologna, General Pictures, National Film Archive of India, and Aravindan Govindan's family.

There are also four South Asian film projects officially selected in various sections. These include three projects in La Fabrique Cinema (part of Les Cinemas du Monde/ Institut Francais, that helps develop projects) - Gourab Mullick's Starfruits, produced by Umesh Kulkarni (India), Seemab Gul's Haven of Hope, Panahkhana, produced by Abid Aziz Merchant (Pakistan), and Abinash Bikram Shah's Elephants in the Fog, produced by Anup Poudel (Nepal). Sein Lyan Tun's The Beer Girl in Yangon, from Myanmar, produced by John Badalu (Indonesia), is in the L'Atelier section. Midi Z, the Burmese-Taiwanese filmmaker, whose films have been in the Cannes, Berlin and Venice film festivals, is Patron, a mentor, at La Fabrique this year. And Abinash Bikram Shah has a double celebration - a short film and a project - at Cannes.

In the Cannes Marche du Film (Cannes Film Market), the business section that runs outside of the festival's official selection, India is Country of Honour, and will host an India Pavilion and facilitate business. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur announced that this marks 75 years of India's independence, 75 years of the Cannes film festival, and 75 years of Indo-French diplomatic ties. The NFDC's Film Bazaar has picked five films for the Goes To Cannes section in the Market - Jaicheng Zxai Dohutia's Baghjan (Assamese and Moran), Shailendra Sahu's Bailadila (Hindi and Chhattisgarhi), Ektara Collective's Ek Jagah Apni (A Space of Our Own, Hindi), Harshad Nalawade's Follower (Marathi, Kannada and Hindi), and Jai Shankar's Shivamma (Kannada). The government will also showcase Biswajeet Bora's Boomba Ride (Assamese) in the market. With the sheer competition, Indian and South Asian filmmakers are seeking various co-production platforms that are also at Cannes: Rajesh S Jala's Chingari, The Spark (India), is part of HAF Goes to Cannes (Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum, Hong Kong), while Nuhash Humayun's Moshari (Bangladesh) is selected in the Sitges Fantastic 7 (Spain) in the market.

Above all, it is fascinating to note that some the Indian films/projects at Cannes deal with poverty, trans women, environmental disaster, a wretched educational system, and right-wing radicalisation. The last has a campaign "made with real thread of hate comments," including "Chowkidar chore. Nothing doing anything for country last 5 years. Only drama (sic)," and "Stop overdosing on pappu mutra, its injurious for your health (sic)." What can I say? Jai ho!

Meenakshi Shedde is India and South Asia Delegate to the Berlin International Film Festival, National Award-winning critic, curator to festivals worldwide and journalist.
Reach her at meenakshi.shedde@mid-day.com