Guwahati: India's official entry to the Oscars 2023 was announced by The Film Federation of India on Tuesday.
Gujarati film 'Chhello Show' or Last Film Show, as it is called in English, has been named India's official entry to the Oscars. This coming-of-age film has been directed by Pan Nalin.
Chhello Show is to feature in the Best International Feature Film category at the 95th Academy Awards or the Oscars, as it is popularly known.
While it was speculated that either The Kashmir Files or RRR will make it to the Oscars list, however, the coming-of-age Gujarati drama 'Chello Show' made the cut.
The film will release in theatres countrywide, including in Gujarat, on October 14.
The film, featuring actors Bhavin Rabari, Vikas Bata, Richa Meena, Bhavesh Shrimali, Dipen Raval and Rahul Koli, had its world premiere as the opening film at Robert DeNiro's Tribeca Film Festival in June 2021.
Last Film Show (Chhello Show) has won multiple awards across various international film festivals, including the Golden Spike at the 66th Valladolid Film Festival in Spain, where it also enjoyed commercial success during its theatrical run.
Filmmaker Pan Nalin, best known for directing award-winning movies like Samsara, Valley of Flowers, and Angry Indian Goddesses, took to Twitter and thanked the Film Federation of India in an emotional post.
Nalin's post read, "OMG! What a night this going to be! Gratitude to Film Federation of India and thank you FFI jury members. Thank you for believing in Chhello Show. Now I can breathe again and believe in cinema that entertains, inspires and enlightens!"
The film is about a nine year-old boy from Chalala, a village in Saurashtra in Gujarat state of India, who enters a cinema hall projection booth by bribing a cinema projector technician, and then continued to watch several films through summer.
According to the makers, the movie is set against the backdrop of cinemas in India that saw the transition from celluloid to digital, where hundreds of single-screen cinemas stand dilapidated or have disappeared altogether.
The 95th Academy Awards or Oscars 2023 is scheduled to be held on March 12, 2023 in Los Angeles.
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