Punjabi film on 1984 official selection at Cannes

More than three years after Gurvinder Singh's directorial debut Punjabi film 'Annhey Ghorey Da Daan', premiered at the Venice Film Festival, his second venture 'Chauthi Koot' ('The Fourth Direction') is all set to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival. As the fest unveiled its official selection lineup for 2015 on Thursday, the Punjabi film was in the list of 14 to be showcased in the Un Certain Regard category at the prestigious film festival to be held in Cannes, France, from May 13-24.
The Indo-French feature is adapted from two short stories by Punjabi writer Waryam Singh Sandhu. The film is about the state-sponsored crimes of the 1980s, the resistance movement it spawned and the fears and insecurities of those times. It has been co-produced by Kartikeya Singh and Sunil Doshi in India and Catherine Dussart in France.
Gurvinder called the selection at Cannes a great followup to the Venice premiere of 'Annhey Ghorey Da Daan'. He said that the section is very well-regarded and is known for cutting edge and experimental works that defy the current convention of cinema. "Even if they don't have famous names, they leave a mark. Here, director is the star," he said. Un Certain Regard is a competitive section and Italian actress Isabella Rossellini, daughter of actress Ingrid Bergman is heading the jury.
Gurvinder said the selection at Cannes means a wider audience as trade people from world over converge here. "Despite a premier at Venice, AGDD didn't get distributed the way I would have liked it to, but Cannes will open it to a wider audience. It will obviously be screened in France but I would like it to reach audience in America and Canada as well and not just Punjabis, but non-Punjabis and people from other nationalities as well. It is a Punjabi film for the world audience," he said.
Talking to TOI earlier, Gurvinder had shared that the unspeakable excesses and brutalities from both sides, the militants and the state, specially the police, forced him to make the film. "The film does not try to uncover the reasons for these excesses or who was to blame. It deals with what turmoil does to everyday living for the ordinary person," he said.
As a boy growing up in Delhi, he felt the repercussion of those events, specially the massacre post Indira Gandhi's assassination. And the disturbing news from Punjab made headlines for so many years to come. "And when I read Waryam Sandhu's collection of stories, 'Chauthi Koot', I realized what impact those events had on the mental and psychological constitution of people in Punjab. The stories compelled me to make the film," he shares.
Featuring theatre actors from Punjab, the film was shot in Ferozepur and Amritsar last year. It will release in India towards the end of this year.
The other Indian film in the category is 'Fly Away Solo' by Neeraj Ghaywan, a relationship drama.
Un Certain Regard
This is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the salle Debussy, parallel to the competition for the Palme d'Or. This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. 'Un' is A in French.