Film co-edited by Telangana youngster selected for Cannes Film Festival

Titled 'In Retreat,' the film with an hour and 15-minute long run time will premiere on May 20.

Mahabubnagar: A feature film co-edited by Vuppuganti Raghavender from Wanaparthy district centre was selected to be screened at the 77th Cannes Film Festival beginning on May 14. Raghavender was invited to the 12-day long event recently.

Titled ‘In Retreat,’ the film with an hour and 15-minute long run time will premiere on May 20. It is the first to have been selected under Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema (ACID) Cannes programme at the global film festival. The film illustrates the emotions of a man who returns to his village after 30 years of migration to faraway places in search of livelihood.

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“It is a dream come true moment for me. It brings recognition to independent filmmakers,” Raghavender told ‘Telangana Today.’ An alumni of Film Institute of India-Pune, Raghavender edited movies titled ‘Mallesham’ and ‘How is it for Monday?’ He worked on short films. Another editor of the movie was Maisam Ali.

The film was directed by Maisam Ali, while the protagonist role was essayed by Harish Khanna, alumni of National School of Drama-New Delhi. It was jointly produced by Abhishek Kherotia, Thanikachalam SA and Maisam Ali.

Ten films were selected from around 700-800 films applied for screening in the ACID Cannes programme. Seven of them were from France.