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FTII student film “SUNFLOWERS WERE FIRST ONES TO KNOW” is selected in the 'La Cinef” Competitive section of 77th Cannes Film Festival, France (15-24 May 2024). It is an official section of the festival which presents and promotes films from film schools across the world to encourage new talents. 

 

The announcement was made today (23.04.2024) by the Cannes Film Festival officially. The film is among 18 shorts (14 live-action and 4 animated films) selected from the 2,263 submitted by film schools all over the world. This is the only Indian film selected in ‘La Cinef’ section of Cannes. The Jury will hand over La Cinef prizes at a ceremony preceding the screening of the awarded films on Thursday 23 May in the Buñuel Theatre.

 

Since the inception of One Year Certificate courses in Television at Film and Television Institute of India, Pune (FTII), a student film from Television course has been selected at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. 

 

FTII’s unique pedagogy and focus on practice based co-learning approach to education in the field of Cinema and Television have resulted in the Institute’s students and its alumni are gaining accolades in various National and International Film festivals over the years.

 

“SUNFLOWERS WERE FIRST ONES TO KNOW” is a story of an elderly woman who steals the village's rooster, which throws the community into disarray. To bring the rooster back, a prophecy is invoked, sending the old lady's family into exile.

 

This FTII film is a production of the TV Wing One-year program where four students from different disciplines i.e. Direction, Electronic Cinematography, Editing, Sound worked together for one project as a year-end coordinated exercise. The film is directed by Chidananda S Naik, shot by Suraj Thakur, edited by Manoj V and sound by Abhishek Kadam.

 

FTII is honoured to represent India in La Cinef category of 77th Cannes Film Festival, France.