Pune: A film directed by Chidanand Naik, a student of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), has been selected in the ‘La Cinef” Competitive Section of the 77th Cannes Film Festival, France.
‘Sunflowers Were First Ones To Know’ is a story of an elderly woman who steals the village’s rooster, which throws the community into disarray. To bring the rooster back, a prophecy is invoked, sending the old lady’s family into exile.
This is the first time a film by a student from a One-year Television course of FTII has been selected at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. This is also the only Indian film selected in ‘La Cinef’ section of Cannes. It is a production of the TV Wing One-year programme where four students from different disciplines -. Direction, Electronic Cinematography, Editing, and Sound – worked together for one project as a year-end coordinated exercise. It is shot by Suraj Thakur, edited by Manoj V and the sound is by Abhishek Kadam.
The film is among 18 shorts (14 live-action and 4 animated films) selected from a total of 2,263 films submitted by film schools all over the world.
The ‘La Cinef’ section is an official section of the festival aimed at encouraging new talents and recognising films from film schools across the world.
The festival is to be held from May 15 to 24, 2024. The Jury will hand over La Cinef prizes at a ceremony preceding the screening of the awarded films on 23rd May in the Buñuel Theatre.
The Film and Television Institute of India stated its unique pedagogy and focus on a 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.
– global bihari bureau
