Director Rima Das, whose debut film Village Rockstars made on a shoe-string budget has been selected as India's official entry to 2019 Academy Awards, will seek help from the government to promote her movie at the Oscars. The filmmaker from Assam said that "at least Rs 3 crore" is required to campaign for the Best Foreign Language Film Award.
"The jury has selected my film for the Oscars and I hope they will come forward to help us with necessary fund to campaign for the film at the competitive level. There was a need of at least Rs 3 crore to campaign at the Oscars and to ensure that it makes it to the final nomination for the award," Das said. "The government and the film fraternity are aware about the journey of the film and also that it is independently made with me as the producer... We will be grateful if we get the final nomination, though the competition is tough. I have realistic dreams and the journey of the film so far has been stupendous," she added.
Das thanked Assam government for contributing Rs 50 lakh for the promotion, but said the amount was "not enough". She hopes other government agencies would support the movie, which won 2018's National Film Award for Best Feature Film. On September 22, when the Film Federation of India (FFI) named Village Rockstars as the country's official entry to the Oscars, many from the film fraternity offered their support, the filmmaker said.
"I am overwhelmed by the response and for me, this is equivalent to receiving the Oscar," she added. Set in Das' village Chayagaon, the film, starring Bhanita Das in the lead role, had its world premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and has toured more than 70 prestigious international and national film festivals. The coming-of-age film also had scored wins in Best Child Artist, Best Location Sound Recordist and Best Editing categories at the 65th National Film Awards.
(With PTI inputs)
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