Every time the Cannes Film Festival comes round, I remember with relish the time I was on the Jury of the Cannes Film Festival’s Semaine de la Critique, Critics’ Week, in 2023. In fact, 2022-23 was an exceptional year: I was on the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival; the Golden Globes’ International Voter; the Toronto International Film Festival-TIFF’s, Senior Programme Advisor, South Asia, and the Berlin Film Festival’s South Asia Delegate. Each of these are huge privileges, of course, but my mind still boggles at the total number of films I was assigned to watch that year. Uff!

It is a good year for South Asia and the diaspora at Cannes 2025, with seven films selected. In official selection, are Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound (feature, Un Certain Regard, India), Kokob Gebrehaweria Tesfay’s A Doll Made Up of Clay (short, La Cinef, SRFTI, India), and Adnan Al Rajeev’s Ali (Shorts Competition, Bangladesh). In addition, Aleem Bukhari’s short Karmash (Pakistan) is in Directors’ Fortnight, and Ananth Subramaniam’s Kattu! Bleat!, is a short film in Tamil from Malaysia-Philippines, in the Critics’ Week. In the Cannes Classics are two restored films, Satyajit Ray’s Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest, India, restored by The Film Foundation in collaboration with Film Heritage Foundation, et al. The second is Sumitra Peries’ Gehenu Lamai (The Girls, Sri Lanka), restored by the Film Heritage Foundation, in association with the Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries Foundation. Altogether, a good haul for South Asia.