
A still from Village Rockstars.
Rima Das' directorial ' Village Rockstars', an Assamese movie, has been selected as India's official entry to the Oscars 2019.
Village Rockstars was shot in Das's native village of Chhaygaon and most of the cast members are non-actors from the village, including her niece Bhanita Das who plays Dhunu.
An eminent all-India jury constituted by FFI under the chairmanship of producer Rajendra Singh Babu chose Rima Das' much-feted films from amongst other contenders like Raazi, Padmaavat Hichki, October, Love Sonia, Gulabjaam, Mahanati, Pihu, Kadvi Hawa, Bhogda, Revaa, Bioscopewala, Manto, 102 Not out, Padman, Bhayanakam, Ajji, Nude and Gali Guliiyan.
The film had its world premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and has toured more than 70 prestigious international and national film festivals. Notably, "Village Rockstars" had bagged the Best Feature Film trophy at the 65th National Film Awards, besides also winning Best Child Artist, Best Location Sound Recordist and Best Editing.
"Village Rockstars is the closest film made by worldwide standards [sic]".
"This is a great day".
India, on Saturday, picked Village Rockstars as its official selection for the Oscars' Foreign Language film race. "For an independent filmmaker like myself to get this recognition is huge and a big confidence boost", Das said over the phone from her home in Assam. Newton was among 92 entries for the category, and only nine films have been shortlisted to move to the next round of voting by the Academy Award members.
Village Rockstars is slated for a pan-India release on 28 September.
Lagaan was the third Indian to have been nominated for an Oscar, after Mother India in 1958 - the first ever Oscar entry from India - and Salaam Bombay! in 1989.
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