Mumbai: India's prime minister Narendra Modi has expressed happiness on the country’s participation as ‘Country of Honour’ at the Cannes Film festival this year. In a message, the prime minister noted that India’s participation comes at the momentous meeting of celebration of 75 years of India’s independence, 75th anniversary of Cannes Film Festival and 75 years of diplomatic relations between India and France.

Positioning India as the largest film producing country in the world, PM Modi said that multifariousness of the country’s film sector is remarkable and rich heritage and cultural diversity are its strengths. “India has a lot of stories to be told and the country truly possesses immense potential to become the content hub of the world,” the prime minister added.

Reiterating India’s commitment to improve ease of doing business in the film sector, PM Modi said that from facilitating international film co-production to ensuring single window clearance mechanism for permissions for filming across the country, India offers seamless possibilities to filmmakers of the world.

The prime minister further expressed happiness that a Satyajit Ray film has been restored for screening in the Cannes Classic Section as India celebrates the birth centenary of the maestro.

Among one of the many firsts, startups from India will showcase their strengths to the cine-world. The prime minister expressed confidence that India pavilion will display facets of Indian cinema and promote international partnerships and learnings.

India is the official Country of Honour at the upcoming Marche’ du Film, that is organised alongside the 75th edition of Cannes Film Festival in France which kicked off on Tuesday. Actress Deepika Padukone is one of the jury members at the Cannes Film Festival. The Country of Honour status ensures India’s presence as Focus Country at the opening night of Marche du Film being organised at the Majestic Beach with spotlight on India, its cinema, its culture and heritage.

India is also a Country of Honour at the Cannes Next, under which five new startups would be given an opportunity to pitch to the audio-visual industry. Ten professionals will participate on the Animation Day networking. As a major highlight of India’s participation at this edition of Cannes Film Festival, the world premiere of the film “Rocketry” - produced by R Madhavan - is scheduled to be showcased at the Palais des Festivals of the market screening on 19 May.

The Indian delegation is led by union minister Anurag Thakur and consists of film celebrities from across the country.