Aamir's Rising to premiere at Cannes

The 58th Cannes film festival has kicked off in the French Riviera resort town, amidst the flavour of Bollywood which will showcase India as a brand at the world's most famous film festival. For the third consecutive year, the Confederation of Indian Industry, supported by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the National Film Development Corporation, is headed for Cannes to project the Indian film industry in the international market.

Nandita Das will be on the Cannes jury this year, a feat accomplished by Aishwarya Rai in 2003. She will also inaugurate the CII India Pavilion.

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On May 12 Pather Panchali will kick off this year's Cannes Classics Series, which was introduced as an integral part of the festival three years ago. On the 50th anniversary of its release, Satyajit Ray's masterpiece will be honoured as one of the world's greatest films. Pather Panchali received one of the most prestigious awards at the event in 1956 -- The Best Human Document.

Movie outfits exhibiting this year at the CII India Pavilion include NFDC, Sahara India Mass Communication, Indian Motion Pictures, Sunstone Entertainment, Mashreq Communication and Planman Life, among others.

The CII feels Cannes is an excellent platform for the Indian film industry to interact and network with the global showbiz community and also better understand international production, distribution and exhibition market scenarios. Over 60 Indian films will be screened at the Cannes Film Market, including the English version of Subhash Ghai's Kisna, Sunstone Entertainment's Chicken Tikka Masala, Eros International's Matrubhoomi -- A Nation Without Women and Ketan Mehta's The Rising, which will have its premiere.

Coinciding with the fest, CII will hold an India Evening, a glitzy show, on May 19 at the Carlton Beach Restaurant.

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