“Collaboration helps break cultural barriers” – Ricky Kej at the India Forum at Cannes
Anurag Thakur, Minister of I&B, opened the India forum at Cannes 2022 by announcing the intent to make India the content subcontinent of the world through its recently announced incentives, policy push for film production, and the promise to facilitate the industry.
With Vani Tripathi chairing the India Forum at the 75th Cannes Film Festival, the discussion focused on the transforming nature of storytelling. Commenting on the same, Shekhar Kapur noted that the nature of films is changing. India is soon to become the world’s biggest new influence economy since it has a girl sitting in a rural village somewhere who will have equal reach as a 2 hour film through something she made on her phone.
Prasoon Joshi contributed to this point by bringing attention to elements of Indian cinema that have put it on a global map i.e. diversity and decoding culture. Diversity makes the content stand out and cultural decoding that happens at film festivals and international screenings help the audience appreciate the story being told.
Addressing what makes a global story and if Indian content is influential Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, shared his opinion on Indian stories being ‘too boisterous’. He expressed his hope for the culture of India and its storytelling to be driven by its people and not its government or politics.
In response to Mr. Scott’s opinion, Mr. Chandra informed the audience of the Government involvement in the facilitation of making content. He said he hopes to see many collaborations and great cinemas becoming a part of festivals like Cannes and the world.
Philippe Avril, a European filmmaker shared that he looks forward to how Indian storytelling can find its way to communicate with the world. In his opinion, film production is profitable for everyone and every country should support its ecosystem. In this case, the film ecosystem.
R Madhavan countering Mr.Scott reiterated Indian legends that are in process of being told and that India is a new developing story that needs no west conformity. In the closing remarks, Ricky Kej settled the discussion by suggesting collaboration as an important tool to break cultural barriers. He said it helps to look at our own culture from a different perspective which leads to better storytelling.
Watch the complete session below: