LA CANNES EXPERIENCE

Why Cannes?
There is a misconception amongst many that the Cannes Film Festival is the oldest film festival to have survived in this modern age. That is unfortunately wrong. The oldest film festival is the Venice Film Festival. Cannes was created very soon after that under private funding with no government intervention, but Venice Film Festival holds the title of the oldest film festival. While that may be the case, Cannes has become the most glamorous and the most respected of all film festivals. This is a festival with such pedigree and excellence behind it that it can make any director, artist or anyone involved with film, immortal through their nominations and awards.

The judges and jury that comprise the whole festival are film experts from all corners of the world which adds creative diversity to the panel. The nominations and awards given out by the festival are held as the utmost authority to film buffs all over the world. The festivals themselves all have different characteristic tastes and Cannes Festival is no different. There may always be some confusion regarding some choices, as was the case with this year's Cannes, but still, no one can ever say the choice is unfair or the award is undeserved. This shows the love and support that people all over the world have for the Cannes Film Festival and that's why it's still the best in the business.

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Experience of a Lifetime
Going to the Cannes Film Festival always feels so surreal. For someone who loves film and everything to do with it, the name Cannes is nothing new to and to them the experience can be likened to that of a religious pilgrimage. People who adore the Cannes Film Festival have also acquired that unique taste for the film that are usually entered. For those who have been lucky enough to visit the festival knows that it is jam packed with everything that is relevant to the world of film: from film marketing, producing, directing, screening etc. we can count ourselves lucky that we have been able to take part in this illustrious event this year as well the last. The one thing we can say from our own experience is that it's incredibly hard to take part in all the happenings because there's so much going on. 

Bengali Standpoint
Our film heritage is nothing new. Our industry is even older than our nation, and throughout this long journey, we have made some great movies. However it's sad when we consider the fact that our films don't make it to Cannes. The only crumb of comfort that we have was the FIPRESCI Prize won by the film Matir Moina, directed by the late Tareque Masud, in the section Directors' Fortnight outside competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. From the international perspective, they either confuse us with the Indian film industry or they are unaware of our film industry completely. This is a truly sad thing for us all. It's also quite disheartening that despite the long heritage we have, we still haven't managed to make a solid mark in the international scene. We can only hope that the new generation coming into the industry now or are planning to sometime in the future, to try and make sure that our films have an appeal that would attract the international attention. Winning shouldn't be the only honour as even being selected for screening in a recognized festival is an honour in its own right. The generation has the talent to make it big, but there seems to be hurdle somewhere that stifles these bright minds. To these creative geniuses, we say that you broaden your horizon by going to different film festivals, as each has its own style and characteristics. This will give them an amazingly in-depth look at film at large and in turn, help them express their creativity better.