Onir believes in always calling a spade a spade. And he recently also spoke out about India’s presence at the Cannes Film Festival. He tweeted: “I just don’t understand why people go to the #Cannesfilm festival just to be clicked in all sorts of costumes (so often bizarre) when my film isn’t showing. Also, they don’t have the passion to watch movies.” and a panel discussion. Will doing this really make you feel better? ”
When asked more about this, he said: “What inspired me to tweet this was the realization that people were posting pictures of people wearing a lot of clothes, but not many people were talking about the movies there. Some of the best films from around the world are screened there, so why aren’t we industry folks so concerned about what this festival actually celebrates? There is only clothes, so who cares?”
What the filmmakers can’t get their heads around is that the people coming out of here aren’t wearing anything that represents their culture on the global platform. “I don’t think most of them represent their country’s traditions, culture or fashion in whatever they wear. Even if a picture is taken, it has no effect on the world. It’s the work that counts, I want to know more about our film than this,” O’Neill added.
“Is there anyone talking about Manipur and the great film director who went to Manipur from Assam? But watch a few movies that this space is all about, people dress up… at least post about the movies they saw in the cinema and the clothes they wore outside the movies. People don’t even go into the theater, they just pose and walk away,” said 54, when his film Pine Cone is set to open at the Kashish Film Festival in June. The old man laughs.
