TEN THINGS ACHIEVED BY INDIA AT CANNES 2023

India made significant strides at the Cannes Film Festival and Market 2023, showcasing its creative economy and establishing its position as a global player in the film industry. Here are ten notable achievements by India at Cannes

India’s

Creative Economy:

India is the world’s largest producer of films with over 3000 films in over 40 languages. These films carry a message of India’s strength in storytelling across the world. This year, India strategically highlighted its creative economy as the central theme at the Cannes Film Festival and Market. This emphasized India’s growing presence in the global film industry and its efforts to leverage its creative talent and economic growth to enhance its soft power globally. A slew of initiatives through Digital India, Start Up India, rural telecom connectivity, policy reforms creating positive environment for data affordability and availability are creating a robust foundation of a Creative Economy.

Animation, VFX, Post Production Strengths:

India showcased its prowess in Animation, Visual Effects, and Post Production (AVGC) at Cannes, highlighting the country’s capabilities in these areas. This aimed to attract international collaborations, coproductions, and investments in India’s AVGC industry. Indian film industry has undergone significant changes in recent years with advent of newer technologies and rise of digital and streaming platforms. It was highlighted that today it’s difficult to find a movie without an Indian name in its credits for animation or VFX.

Anurag Singh Thakur Minister of Sports, Youth Affairs and Information and Broadcasting

With three films shortlisted in three distinct categories and two of them bringing home Oscars - the world has just scratched the surface of the creativity, content and technical capabilities of the Indian Film Industry. With powerful narratives, high-end skill-based content curation and post-production capabilities and co-production treaties with 16 countries, India has emerged as an attractive destination for filmmakers worldwide

Meetings on Co-Production Agreements:

Indian delegates actively participated in meetings and discussions to establish co-production agreements with various countries. This endeavour aimed to foster collaboration in executing joint projects and expanding international partnerships in the film industry.

India has announced a scheme to provide financial incentives for co-production projects, i.e., audio-visual co-production with foreign countries with which India has bilateral Audio-Visual Co-Production treaties. India has bilateral Audio-Visual Co-Production treaties with 16 countries, including Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Israel, Korea, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Efforts are on to include more countries under these agreements. Under this scheme, the government offers a reimbursement of 30% of Qualifying CoProduction Expenditure (QPE) incurred in India, subject to a cap of INR 20 Million (approximately US$ 244,000).

Dr L Murugan Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting

Our technological forte of the IT sector merged with the rich talent pool of artists, makes India the best suited for serving as the Content Creator for the global Cinema. Our government had set up a task force for the promotion of this sector. A National Centre of Excellence for AVGC is also in pipeline

Incentives for filming in India:

India promoted the incentives and advantages it offers for filmmakers to shoot their projects in the country. This included showcasing India’s diverse and picturesque locations, cost-effective production infrastructure, and government-backed incentives to attract international productions. Following film incentives announced last year at the Cannes, India’s presence in Cannes 2023 took the momentum further.

India offers two incentive schemes to promote film production in India, including animation and post-production, and to encourage co-production with foreign countries. Besides these central government schemes, various state governments also offer incentives to promote filmmaking.

To encourage the production of foreign films in India, including Animation and Post Production, the scheme announced by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting offers a reimbursement of 30% of Qualifying Production Expenditure (QPE) incurred in India, subject to a cap of INR 20 Million (approximately US$ 244,000). Additionally, an extra 5% of QPE, capped at INR 5 million (approximately US$ 60,000), is provided as a bonus for employing 15% or more Indian workforce.

India needs to have a bigger, more organised presence at Cannes and other festivals, and requires adopting a more aggressive approach to promote Indian films. A larger presence will do justice to the scale and strength of Indian cinema