“Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know” a short film made by four students from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune, has been chosen for the competitive section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, known as La Cinef in France.
About the Film
The short film is directed by Chidanand Naik, a student at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) with cinematography by Suraj Thakur, editing by Manoj V, and sound by Abhishek Kadam.
The short film, produced by the TV Wing One-year program at FTII, brought together four students from various disciplines, Direction, Electronic Cinematography, Editing, and Sound, for a collaborative project as a year-end exercise.
The film tells the story of an elderly woman who steals the village's rooster, triggering chaos among the community. To recover the rooster, a prophecy is invoked, resulting in the exile of the woman's family, according to the official synopsis.
Among 2,263 entries from film schools from all over the world, “Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know” is the only film from an Indian film school selected for La Cinef.
Moreover, it is the first time a film from a one-year Television course at FTII has been selected for such a prestigious festival.
More about La Cinef competition
The La Cinef section is a special part of the festival that supports new filmmakers and features movies from film schools worldwide. This part of the festival focuses on showing fictional or animated films made by students.
Out of all the entries, Only 18 shorts (14 live-action and 4 animated films). Other films in the La Cinef section include titles like "Crow Man" from Lebanon, "Banished Love" from China, and "The Chaos She Left Behind" from Greece. There are also movies from countries like Italy, Mexico, Palestine, Czech Republic, South Korea, Australia, and Israel. Additionally, there are three films from the US, and two each from the UK and France.
The organiser in a press release said, "This year’s programme reflects the geographic mobility of film students, with a Singaporean director in Australia, an Indian and a Lithuanian in the UK, a Russian in the Czech Republic and three shorts made at American schools by Russian, Chinese and British filmmakers.”
Belgian actress Lubna Azabal is leading the jury for the La Cinef section. The jury also includes French filmmaker Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, Italian film programmer Paolo Moretti, French producer-director Claudine Nougaret, and Serbian filmmaker Vladimir Perišić. They will choose the winners for the La Cinef prizes and the Short Film Palme d’or.
Winners in this category will be celebrated at a ceremony before the films are shown on May 23 at the Buñuel Theatre.
The 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will be held from May 14 to 25.
The Prestigious FTII
As per the PIB release, FTII’s unique pedagogy and focus on practice based co-learning approach to education in the field of Cinema and Television have resulted in the Institute’s students and its alumni winning accolades in various National and International Film festivals over the years.
Big Announcement!
We are honoured to share that FTII’s student film "Sunflowers were the first ones to know" is selected to compete at 77th Cannes Film Festival
It is the only Indian film among 18 shorts selected from 2,263 entries by film schools all over the world. pic.twitter.com/ny2HpNU8RR— FTII (@FTIIOfficial) April 24, 2024
Pune based FTII is a prestigious Film Institute, was established by the government in 1960. It has big names of Indian cinema as its alumni, including Veteran actors Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Mithun Chakraborty, Asrani, Shakti Kapoor, to new superstars like Rajkumar Rao, Vijay Verma and more. Actor and Film-maker, R. Madhavan is the current President of FTII.
Cannes 2024: Indian Edition
Payal Kapadia's debut movie, "All We Imagine as Light," secured a spot for screening in the competitive segment of this year's Cannes Film Festival.
Sandhya Suri's "Santosh," featuring Shahana Goswami and Sanjay Bishnoi, will be shown in the festival's Un Certain Regard section.
Additionally, Bulgarian filmmaker Konstantin Bojanov's film "The Shameless," starring Mita Vashisht, Tanmay Dhanania, Auroshikha Dey, and Rohit Kokate, will be screened in the Un Certain Regard category.
Karan Kandhari's debut film, "Sister Midnight," will premiere at Quinzaine des Cinéastes (Directors' Fortnight).
Maisam Ali's movie "In Retreat" has been selected for the Acid section of the Cannes Film Festival.
And, Now, "Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know," got selected for the competition.
Overall, Indian cinema, with exceptionally talented young filmmakers and actors has been making waves internationally. Their success at prestigious film festivals not only delights cinema enthusiasts but also fills the nation with pride.
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