Cannes, May 16 : French zombie comedy ‘Final Cut’ will premier at Cannes Film Festival 2022 on Tuesday. A remake of the Japanese zombie comedy “One Cut Of The Dead”, the film reflects the global passion and never ending love of making new ways of bringing the living dead to the silver screen. Directed by French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius, who also directed the Oscar winning film the “The Artist”, “Final Cut’ is the story of a filming of a zombie movie, said Cannes festival artistic director Thierry Fremaux. “The film talks about the passion of making movies, about the collective effort,” added Fremaux. It is the second time a zombie film will be opening the Cannes, after American director Jim Jarmusch’s Adam Driver-starring ‘The Dead Don’t Die’ in 2019. For India too, the Cannes is a moment of high prestige. Marking 75 years of both India’s Independence and India France relations, a high-level Indian delegation led by Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur will attend the 12-day festival where India is designated as the ‘Country of Honour’ this year. Four Indian films have been selected as the official candidates at Cannes this year. These films include the acclaimed internationally co produced documentary “All That Breathes” by Delhi-based director Shaunak Sen. The story is about two Muslim brothers who after rescuing the predator Black Kite from the polluted air of the national capital have made it their mission to rescue the falling birds affected by the grey skies of New Delhi. The documentary film had won a Sundance Award. This marks the second time that an Indian documentary film is part of the Cannes official selection. Last year, Delhi-born filmmaker Rahul Jain’s ‘Invisible Demons’, which probes the disastrous effects of development on nature, was among the documentaries from across the world participating in the festival’s Cinema for the Climate section. “This year has been especially good for Indian cinema at large and documentaries in particular,” says ‘All That Breathes’ director Sen. “The appreciation of major international festivals for Indian non-fiction has been good,” he adds. ‘All That Breathes’ is part of the Special Screenings section in Cannes. Another film chosen is a short student film “Nauha” by Whistling Woods International, Mumbai alumnus Pratham Khurana, in the festival’s competition for film schools, are among the official selection in Cannes this year. Nauha an Urdu word which means “mourning the loss”, the film is the second film to be selected for Cannes. Set in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, ‘Nauha’, the film is about the relationship between an ailing elderly man and his young caregiver. The movie is among the 16 films in La Cinef category selected from 1,528 entries from film schools around the world. The 26-minute film was shot by Khurana for his final semester at the Whistling Woods International undergraduate film direction course in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic in Mumbai. “Urbanisation and migration are the big themes of the movie,” says Khurana, who was born and raised in Delhi. In addition, two restored old revered pieces of Indian cinema, legendary Indian director Satyajit Ray’s ‘Pratidwandi’ (1970) and one of the biggest pioneers in parallel Indian cinema, the experimental Malayalam director G Aravindan’s ‘Thampu’ (1978) — are part of the Cannes Classics section. Celebrating new upcoming Indian projects from various Indian languages will also be part of the roster of Cannes Film Festival 2022 in the non selection section. R. Madhavan’s directorial venture, the upcoming historical biopic “Rocketry: The Nambi Effect” (Hindi, Tamil, English) based on ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan who was falsely accused of espionage shall be screened at Palais des Festivals on May 19. Other films that will be screened at the Olympia theatres include Nikhil Mahajan’s “Godavari (Marathi), Achal Mishra’s “Dhuin” (Hindi, Marathi), Shankar Srikumar’s “Alpha Beta Gamma” (Hindi), Biswajeet Bora’s “Boomba Ride” (Mishing), and Jayaraj’s “Tree Full of Parrots” (Malayalam). Hindi language feature project, ‘Starfruits’ directed by Gourab Kumar Mullick, is among the ten upcoming projects in various stages of development mentored this year at the Cannes film market’s La Fabrique Cinema programme for young filmmakers from emerging countries. Set in Mumbai in the ’90s, ‘Starfuits’ tells the love story of a small-time gangster and his male friend. Last year, Kolkata-born Suman Sen’s debut feature project, ‘Eka’ (‘Solo’), about one man’s protest against a giant statue in the West Bengal capital, was the only Indian entry in La Fabrique Cinema. The 75th edition of the Cannes festival has a strong line-up of films vying for the prestigious Palme d’Or. The entries in the competition section include ‘Tori and Lokita’ by Belgium filmmaker-brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, ‘R.M.N’ by Romanian Cristian Mungiu, ‘Crimes of the Future’ by Canadian director David Cronenberg, ‘Stars at Noon’ by French director Claire Denis, and ‘Showing Up’ by American director Kelly Reichardt. The Asian directors in the competition section include Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda (‘Broker’) and South Korean director Park Chan-wook (‘Decision to Leave’). “The global cinema had to reset itself,” says Fremaux about the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on the global film industry. “It will take a few years before we overcome the sadness and pain,” he adds. The Cannes film festival kicks off on May 17 and entertain movie lovers for 11 days till May 28.
with uni inputs
