Cannes Open Doors for ‘Mantostaan’

    Rahat Kazmi’s film gets roaring support

    With ‘Mantostaan’ all set to premiere at the Le Marche du Film category of the upcoming Cannes International Film Festival on May 14, 2016, is gaining roaring support. The film is based on legendary Pakistani writer Saadat Hasan Manto’s hard-hitting and compelling stories.

    Mantostaan is based on a total of four stories weaved together as one over the backdrop of partition has earned tremendous support with its selection at the Cannes festival. The film has already kicked off to a great start as it has also started getting mails from Hollywood distributors about interest in acquiring for different territories. British actress Canelle Hoppe is all praise for the film and especially flying down from London to watch it. Directed by the award winning Indian filmmaker Rahat Kazmi, the film has also received a letter of appreciation from Manto’s daughter and also wants the film to be showcased in Pakistan where she lives.

    “I am very excited with the opportunity presented by Cannes. It is a huge encouragement and support for us independent filmmakers as it opens doors for a diverse market.  I hope the stories of partition will touch a universal chord at Cannes Film Festival,” says Rahat Kazmi.

    Mantostaan is a dark satire based on the trauma the partition brought in its wake, and some of Manto’s best pieces revolve around what he saw during those horrific months. The film brings to celluloid four most controversial stories based on India Pakistan partition, ‘Khol Do’, ‘Thanda Gosht’, ‘Aakhri Salute’ and ‘Assignment’. The stories of Mantostaan should be seen in the light of generation degeneration of human values in the time of riots and communal tension.

    Sonal Sehgal, Raghubir Yadav, Shoib Nikash Shah, Virendra Saxena, Tariq Khan, Raina Bassnet, Sakshi Bhatt, Zahid Qureshi and Rahat Kazmi himself have played key characters in the film. Mantostaan is shot in Punjab and Jammu, the northern part of India, finds a pride of place at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival which starts on May 11 coinciding with Manto’s birthday that falls on the same day. The official screening of the film is on May 14.

    With phenomenal support that the film is gaining including the invitations from Toronto and San Francisco Film Festivals, Rahat is all set to take Manto on a world tour.

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