77th edition Cannes Film Festival: Indian films to be featured for official screening

India is scheduled to stamp its mark on the Cannes Film Festival’s canvas during its 77th edition, which will take place in the French Riviera starting on May 14.

On May 23, the festival will screen Payal Kapadia’s Malayalam film All We Imagine As Light.The plot of All We Imagine As Light centers on two roommates who work as hospital nurses. The main plot point is how their perceptions are altered by love and self-discovery.

Santosh, which is helmed by British-Indian director Sandhya Suri, will have its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section. The main character in Santosh, which features Shahana Goswami in the lead role, is a recently bereaved woman who takes up her husband’s role as a police constable in a remote area of northern India.

Sunflowers Were The First Ones To Know, a Kannada short film, will be presented at the Cannes Film Festival under the Cinéfondation or La Cinef section. Chidanand Naik, an FTII student, is the director of the movie.

The 1976 film Manthan, starring Smita Patil and Naseeruddin Shah, will be presented as part of the Cannes Classics lineup. Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Girish Karnad also starred in the movie.

Sister Midnight, starring actress Radhika Apte, has also been chosen for the Directors’ Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival this year. The film, which was directed by Karan Kandhari, tells the story of a wife who struggles to deal with being married in a slum.

Syed Maisam Ali Shah’s film In Retreat narrates the tale of a man who, after a long absence, returns to his birthplace. The Association for the Distribution of Independent Cinema Section will screen the movie.

The Shameless, helmed by Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov, is the last movie on the list. The story of the movie takes place in India, and it was filmed all throughout India and Nepal. In The Shameless, an Indian prostitute named Rani is followed as she confronts her past—which includes a romantic relationship—while on a trip to a secluded temple. Rani was convicted of murder in Bangalore.