Information and Broadcasting Secretary Sanjay Jaju yesterday at the 77^th Cannes Film Festival strongly batted for the universality of Indian content, its global appeal and urged increased audio visual collaborations between Indian and the rest of the world.

Inaugurating the country’s pavilion at the French riviera, which annually attracts the who’s who of global media and entertainment world, Jaju (seen in the picture cutting the ribbon) said, “We would like to foster a greater collaboration between the Indian audio visual industry and international counterparts, thereby enhancing the visibility and accessibility of Indian Cinema worldwide and serve the national goal of using the power of cinema to enhance the country’s soft touch.”

He further pointed out that the Bharat Pavilion, till last year called the India Pavilion, at Cannes would serve as a “hub for networking, collaboration, and promotion of Indian Cinema on the global stage”.

“Heartening to have more Indian projects in the Cannes official selection this year, one each in the competition…and let me also confess that both these projects have been the beneficiaries of the support from the government in terms of the incentive as well as the official core productions,” Jaju added.

Explaining the rationale behind the renaming of the pavilion at Cannes, the Secretary offered: “It symbolises the country’s assertion of its traditional storytelling practices while it actively looks for collaborations with the rest of the world.”

A PTI report from Cannes quoted the Secretary as saying that India is the “sutradhar (narrator) of the world” and the large Indian presence in the festival is a recognition of that status.

According to a media statement put out by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), many states like Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra, among others, are representing India at Cannes Film Market this year, pitching their respective exquisite locales for international shoots and to promote State incentives for filming to production houses.

Three films, which have been shot in India through partnerships through India’s Film Facilitation Office (FFO), have been shortlisted in various sections at this year’s festival.

The Union Territory (federally administered) of J&K, which is participating in the Film Market for the first time, has a film incentive policy that is less than a year old and held several business meetings with global stakeholders, officials at the J&K booth said.

Important guests present at the opening ceremony included Jawed Ashraf, Ambassador of India in France; Tholoana Rose Ncheke, Chairperson of South Africa’s National Film and Video Foundation; Christian Jeune, Director of the Films Department, Cannes Film Festival and the Canadian-Indian director Richie Mehta, best known for season one of Netflix’s Emmy-nominated crime series ‘Delhi Crime’, which was inspired by true events relating to 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape case.

Speaking later, Mehta, who has made another true crime-inspired series for Prime Video called ‘Poacher’, said, “It is such a momentous occasion for Indian cinema here. Personally for me, I wouldn’t have a career if not for the film festival community. The festivals have helped me basically unlock a career.”

Continuing on how he acts as an international bridge for Indian storytellers, Mehta added, “One of my missions, as a Canadian Indian, has been to export the best of Indian storytelling. And, I’m not talking about a film standpoint, I’m talking from the standpoint of the stories, the people on the ground, and the amazing culture that we have to show to the world.”

Hosted each year at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival by the MIB, India’s participation is spearheaded by the National Film Development Corporation as the nodal agency and FICCI as the industry partner.