Spotlight on Indian films at Locarno film festival 2011

PANAJI - India will feature prominently at the next edition of the prestigious Locarno festival, officials said here Wednesday.

The Locarno officials also said that independent filmmakers in India found it difficult to make films, despite the monumental strength of commercial production.

In a statement issued here, the festivals artistic director Olivier Pere and head of Locarnos industry office Nadia Dresti said the festivals co-production lab ‘Open Doors will focus on India in the next edition of the festival.

Everybody knows that India outpaces the world in film production, releasing around 1,300 films every year, Pere said.

But these figures can be misleading. The strength of commercial production, concentrated in the four main linguistic regions should not make us lose sight of the many talented filmmakers across the country who are finding it very hard to express themselves through independent circuits. The next edition of Open Doors will give voice to those artists, Pere said.

The Open Doors segment is supported by the Swiss foreign ministrys agency for development and co-operation and its main objective is to assist the directors and producers of the selected projects to find co-production partners, particularly in Europe.