Assam filmmaker Jaicheng Zxai Dohutia expressed his displeasure with the State government’s decision to send four film industry representatives, including bureaucrats, to the Cannes Film Festival on May 22, 2022.
‘Baghjan,’ a multilingual film by Jaicheng Zxai Dohutia created in Assamese and Moran, has been selected for the Marche du Film, France’s business counterpart to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
The director had previously expressed a desire to attend the festival to represent and pitch the film. Dohutia also requested that the state government cover his and his team’s travel expenses so that they may represent their film and the state in France.
However, his wishes were not fulfilled.
Director Jaicheng Zxai Dohutia expressed his thoughts on Facebook.
He wrote, “The Government of Assam has decided to send delegates to the Cannes International Film Festival this year to promote and disseminate Assamese films, which is certainly a far-reaching idea. But the question is about their sincerity and goodwill towards Assamese cinema.”
“It is worth mentioning that for the first time, two Assamese films have been selected for the Cannes International Film Festival (not in exchange for money). Thus, the presence of the representatives of these two films should have been the priority at this moment so that they could have explained the synopsis of the films,” he added.
“But filmmakers like us are forced to hold back our unrelenting desire only because we cannot afford to go to a country like Europe. But, after learning that the Assam government will be sending their representatives to the Cannes Film Festival this year, I am deeply pained; it is like pouring salt on our wounds,” the filmmaker wrote.
He added, “Cannes Film Festival will come every year, but this opportunity for directors like us won’t come back again. Today, the state government could have promoted film directors like us if they wanted to, but they didn’t.”
Apart from Jaicheng Zxai Dohutia’s ‘Baghjan,’ the much-acclaimed Assamese film ‘Boomba Ride’ will be screened at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
