Cannes: Marathi cinema is aiming for the global market with Maharashtra completing a decade as the only state pavilion from India at the Cannes Film Market.
The Maharashtra Film, Stage and Cultural Development Corporation (MFSCDC) pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival, which began on May 13, has four new feature films from independent filmmakers representing Marathi cinema.
Supported by the Maharashtra government’s ministry of culture and the Dadasaheb Phalke Chitra Nagari, which functions under the administration of MFSCDC, the Maharashtra pavilion is in its tenth year at the Cannes Film Market, the biggest film market in the world.
“Four Marathi feature films were selected by the MFSCDC this year to showcase Marathi Cinema in the Marche du Film at the 78th Cannes Film Festival,” says Marathi filmmaker Manoj Khadam, who is coordinating the Maharashtra pavilion.
‘STHAL – A Match’ directed by Jayant Somlkar, ‘Snow Flower’ by Gajendra Ahire, ‘Khalid’s Shivaji’ by Raj More and ‘Old Furniture’ by Mahesh Manjrekar, are representing Marathi cinema in Cannes this year.
“A total of 48 films were received out of which four films were selected for screening in the Cannes Film Market,” adds Khadam, whose debut film, ‘Kshitij’, which deals with education for girl children in the drought-prone Marathwada region, won 17 awards, including the Maharashtra state award for Best Film and Best Director.
“The Maharashtra government along with Film City Mumbai has been successfully showcasing Marathi Cinema at the Cannes Film Market to provide a platform for independent filmmakers to interact with the international producers, distributors and filmmakers to establish themselves on a global platform,” explains Khadam.
“Marathi Cinema is well appreciated since its inception as the first Indian film (‘Raja Harishchandra’ by Dadasaheb Phalke) made in 1913 . A lot of young filmmakers from rural areas are successfully bringing up new concepts and merging them with new technologies to create their own exclusive style in filmmaking,” says Khadam.
The Maharashtra pavilion will function at the Cannes Film Market, called Marche du Film, from May 13 to 20 this year to promote and market Marathi films.
First set up in 2016, the Maharashtra pavilion in the Cannes film market has been present in Cannes every year since then, except in 2020 when it participated online. The state pavilion has so far screened more than 40 feature films in the Cannes film market while bringing as many emerging filmmakers from the state to the famous festival in the past one decade.
“The Marathi cinema doesn’t have a star-based culture,” says Raj More, the director of ‘Khalid’s Shivaji’, a critique of discrimination based on caste, religion, gender and race. “The Marathi audience watch films for their content,” adds the debutant director, an alumnus of the JJ School of Arty, Mumbai.
“The Maharashtra government’s promotion of Marathi cinema is part of the state’s culture policy unveiled last year,” says Mahesh Varhal, Deputy Secretary, Maharashtra Culture Department.
“A single-window permission for shooting in Maharashtra was announced by the Maharashtra government this year,” adds Geetha Deshpande, Chief Administrative Officer, Film City, Goregaon.
