With the 1st Rendezvous with French Cinema in India began an excellent partnership between WWI & Unifrance, France’s highest film body. WWI has been associated with the film festival, Unifrance and the visit of the illustrious French film-makers delegation on many levels.
2 students (Aahana Kumra & Shashank Khaitan) of Whistling Woods International were given the privilege of making a 2-minute film on the theme “France in India” especially for the festival. These films were played back at the film fest prior to each of the festival screening films. These 2 students are also recipients of a 1-week all-expenses paid trip to a major film festival in France, courtesy Unifrance.
Further, legendary directors Claude Lelouch & Guillaume Nicloux conducted 4-hour master-classes each on Jan 29th and Jan 30th respectively at the institute in addition to showcasing the films Crossed Tracks and The Stone Council in exclusive screenings. Both these sessions were very well received by the students and, in the film-makers words, “the students had a good understanding of world cinema and the level of their questioning was challenging”Subhash Ghai, film-maker and Chairman of WWI adds “Such interactions between French film-makers and our students of world cinema is the
origin of future co-productions between India and France and Whistling Woods is glad to play a part in initiating the same.”