CANNES, 17 May 2023: Mr Anurag Singh Thakur, Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Youth Affairs and Sports, Govt of India today said that India is a melting pot of ancient knowledge, ageless architecture, remarkable heritage, innumerable attractions and in arts, cinema has successfully captured the profound culture, economic and social drive along with development of India.

 

Addressing the inaugural session of 'Cannes Film Festival 2023' at the India Pavilion organized by FICCI, jointly with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt of India, Mr Thakur in his virtual address said that Cannes has played an instrumental role in not just promoting our cinematic excellence but also strengthening the Indo-French relations. Last year, India was the first country of honour at Cannes where we announced 2 schemes to encourage film makers and content creators to come and shoot in India. These included the incentives for audio-visual coproduction and the incentives for shooting foreign films in India, he noted.

 

This year, the Minister said that the India Pavilion aims to showcase India's creative economy, by leveraging our competence in content development and postproduction prowess. "For the first time this year, we have sent an official delegation of talented film makers for the North-Eastern states of India to the Cannes Film Festival. This year again, India will dazzle the global audience with the trailer of our country's cinematic excellence, technological prowess, composite culture along with illustrious heritage of storytelling," he emphasized.

 

Mr Thakur further stated that with 3 films shortlisted in 3 distinct categories and 2 of them bringing home Oscars, the world has just scratched the surface of the creativity, content and technical capabilities of Indian film industry. The government has been working to facilitate and expand the opportunities in the film sector by taking measures like single window facilitation and clearance of filming and setting up a task force on AVGC. "With powerful narratives, high end skill-based content curation along with postproduction capabilities and co-production treaty with 16 countries, India has emerged as an attractive destination for film making worldwide," he added.

 

The India Pavilion at Cannes Film Festival will provoke new conversations on creativity and content curation along with promoting co-creation, collaboration and co-operation between India and the world. "Today, India offers an oasis of opportunities, no wonder the land of storytellers is in the spotlight of the cinematic world," he highlighted.

Dr L Murugan, Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Govt of India said that over 3000 films are produced in 50 languages each year in India and are showcased world over. "We are witnessing an era where the Indian content is going from local to global and shaping the global media and entertainment industry," he added.

Dr Murugan while highlighting the measures taken by the government to boost the sector said that India is currently the fastest growing major economy in the world. "We are committed to develop India as a magnet for international movie industry for shooting, coproduction, animation and VFS, along with VR and XR for quality production work with lesser cost. India is being developed as a thriving hub for all film related activities. We have coproduction treaty with 16 countries, and we continue to offer attractive incentives to world class movie makers," he stated.

He also stated that during the India's G20 Presidency, the government is laying special focus here on culture, tourism and entertainment. We aim to leverage the power of media and entertainment for the theme 'One Earth, One Family, One Future' which is the way forward.

HE Mr Jawed Ashraf, Ambassador of India to France and Monaco said that we should make cinema a powerful instrument of our soft power and we need to have aggressive promotion of our films because we are second to none. He added that cinema creates jobs and creates export earnings and win the heart and mind of people. "We are the world's hub for content creation, and we are making transition towards AI driven world. We at the embassy are always there to support the industry," he added.

Mr Guillaume Esmiol, Executive Director, March??? du Film, Festival de Cannes said that the Indian film industry is very important and is connected to international media.

Mr Prithul Kumar, Joint Secretary (Films), Ministry of I&B & MD, National Film Development Corporation, Govt of India delivered the welcome address.

FICCI MEDIA DIVISION