After sweeping over most of the awards at the recently concluded 65th National Film awards, Assamese feature film ‘Village Rockstars’ is pushing new boundaries. The film has been handpicked along with three other regional films to be screened in the Cannes film festival that starts from May 8.
Village Rockstars, directed by Rima Das recently became the second Assamese feature film to be awarded the best feature film in the National Film Awards. Besides winning the award for the best feature film, Village Rockstars was also awarded in various other categories.
Rima Das made the movie on a shoestring budget as a one woman army- she was the producer, director, writer, cinematographer, editor and production designer of the movie. She was assisted by her sister Mallika Das who also won a National Award for Best Audiography. The lead actor- Bhanita Das won the National award for Best Child Actor and Rima herself won the best editing award as well.
Rima, over the past year, has travelled across the world, with her movie- Village Rockstars, which has won critical acclaim at all the festivals it has been screened at. The Cannes screening will be yet another feather to ‘Village Rockstars’ cap.
The Assamese film ‘Village Rockstars’ along with Malayalam feature ‘Bhayanakam’, the Jeseri film ‘Sinjar’ from Lakshwadeep and the Bengali drama ‘Nagarkirtan’ are the selected films to be screened at the prestigious festival.
The India Pavilion, organised by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in association with FICCI, at the Cannes Film Market (the business arm of the Cannes Festival); will see a robust representation from India. For the first time in years, I&B Minister Smriti Irani will lead the contingent. She will be accompanied by a robust team comprising of Filmmaker Jahnu Barua, who also hails from Assam.