Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Deepika Padukon, Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner and many, many other celebrities graced the red carpet, but Venika Mitra wasn’t one of them. Venika’s directorial debut “All I want” won her two awards at the Cannes Film Festival 2017. This brilliant film is a 7-minute short documentary that portrays the journey of a street kid, Ratan who wants to buy a mango. But at the 70th edition of the grand film festival, films were hardly the talk of the town. What set the headlines abuzz with chatter were the lavish gowns that were draped over the models as they waltzed away to glory on a very large red piece of cloth, i.e., the red carpet, the source of revenue for paparazzi. “All I want” won the Audience Choice Award in the General Showcase Category. Out of the 230 films that competed, only six films were selected in the General Showcase category, which was the second award for the docu-feature.
A still from Venika Mitra’s All I Want
India, on the other hand, was busy parading the Bollywood beauties flaunting their ridiculous attires at the Cannes, people were wondering if there was after all the purpose of the prestigious film festival. In the past decade, only 4 Indian films have made the cut to be screened in competitive categories- Vikramaditya Motwane’s Udaan (2010), Kanu Behl’s Titli (2014), Gurvinder Singh’s Chauthi Koot (2015) and Neeraj Ghaywan’s Masaan (2015). Gangs of Wasseypur which was screened under ‘Director’s Fortnight’ or The Lunchbox which got screened in the ‘International Critics’ Week’ section and many other of these kinds have always been screened merely out of the competing section. Considering this, a film bagging not one but two awards at the film festival should have catched atleast some eyeballs?
This film-maker had her short film screened at Cannes, a privilege that only a few Indian films seem to be receiving. Obviously, Venika would have preferred her country rooting for her. But her film did not even receive any attention which she would have duly deserved. She couldn’t have made it to Cannes if it hadn’t been for her best friend. It was Venika’s friend bought her tickets to fly to Cannes.
“I was happy (when I had received the call), but I couldn’t afford to go to France. My best friend from school, Kanchan who is a dentist in Texas, bought me the tickets. I owe her this,” she was quoted saying in an interview with Times of India (Bombay).
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Resul Pookutty, the Oscar and BAFTA Award winner known for her ace sound designing skills came on board with her project and charged nothing in return. Venika assisted many directors after completing her graduation but still, she had trouble in finding any producers to come on board for her film which she had shot in 2015 in Mumbai. Venika eventually took the high-way and ended up getting the film crowdfunded. Visibility was another issue that the newbie filmmaker faced at the event. Because if the focus is on who wore what and whom and when and for how long, there’s nobody around to discuss films.
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