Cannes, May 19 (UNI) The 78th Cannes Film Festival has a student-directed and produced short film from India, in the third successive year for an Indian film in the festival's competition for film schools around the world.
'A Doll Made Up of Clay' directed and produced by the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata is an entry in the Cannes festival's La Cinef competition for film schools.
Directed by Kokob Gebrehaweria Tesfay, an Ethiopian national and international student at the central government-run SRFTI, 'A Doll Made Up of Clay' is about a Nigerian footballer in Kolkata playing in the city's seven-a-side tournament.
Shot in Kolkata, the 24-minute film is one of the 16 films in La Cinef selected from 2,700 entries from film schools around the world. A five-member film crew led by Tesfay is representing SRFTI in Cannes.
'A Doll Made Up of Clay' will be screened at the festival on May 21.
This is the third year in a row an Indian film institute production is part of La Cinef competition in Cannes.
Last year, 'Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know', a student production from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune had won the top prize in La Cinef competition.
In 2023, FTII, Pune entry, 'Nehemich', competed in La Cinef section of the festival.
'Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know' based on a Banjara folk tale from Karnataka was directed by Mysore-based Chidananda S Naik of FTII, Pune. The film won the 15,000-euro (approximately 14 lakh rupees) First Prize.
In 2020, FTII, Pune production 'CatDog' directed by Ashmita Guha Neogi won La Cinef's First Prize. 'Afternoon Clouds' by Mumbai-born filmmaker Payal Kapadia, who won the Cannes festival's Grand Prix for her feature film, 'All We Imagine As Light', had competed in La Cinef in 2017.
Previously called Cinefondation, the Cannes festival's film school competition began in 1998 to discover emerging talent in world cinema.
"The institute provides us with resources like camera, sound equipment and film laboratory to make our short films," says SRFTI student Tesfay. "Ours is a zero budget project. No money is spent on the production of the film," he adds.
"Real football matches played between local clubs in Kolkata having African footballers are shown in the film," says Vinod Kumar, SRFTI cinematography student, who led the camera department of 'A Doll Made Up of Clay'. "Seven-a-side football tournaments are very popular in Kolkata," adds Tesfay.
The 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, which began on May 13, will conclude on May 24.
UNI XC GNK