Admittedly, the Frenchmen who developed the medium did not necessarily see the potential it bore. Louis Lumière went so far as to say that it was an invention without a future...
But France's overflowing cinematic productions were to belie this hasty judgement. The creations which flourished throughout the 20th century in France, and since the beginning of this century also demonstrated the vigour and the inventiveness of a nation of film lovers.

But this love of films never was solely local. It was also the result of an immigration of a new kind: the immigration of filmmakers. Russia gave France Alexander Alexeieff, Anatole Litvak; Poland lent us Kieslowski, Zulawski, Polanski; Argentina sent us Gaspar Noe and Edgardo Cozarinsky; from Georgia came Gela Babluani and Otar Iosseliani.

For cinema unites us all in the same emotions, beyond borders and national cultures. Cinema communes with the child in each one of us who likes to pretend and believe. Cinema brings us all together, because it is, as Jean-Luc Godard put it, “the most beautiful fraud in the world”.

It is thus an ideal vehicle for the circulation of ideas and symbols across all borders.

In this respect, France's crucial asset, as a country of filmmakers, has always been its curiosity for works and ideas reaching us from around the world. The friendship and collaboration which united Jean Renoir and Satyajit Ray, the success of Ray's films in France, the acute interest which the Nouvelle Vague films aroused in India testify to this ability, shared with India, to transcend the local and reach out to the universal.

In order to celebrate the universality of an art form which draws nations together, BONJOUR INDIA is bringing two French film festivals to India. One will commemorate yesterday's cinema, with the fiftieth anniversary of the Nouvelle Vague. From Agnes Varda to Eric Rohmer, including Truffaut, Godard and Demy; the stalwarts of what has now become one of the classical periods of French film history will be presented again to an enlightened audience. The other festival, organized together with UNIFRANCE and CulturesFrance, will showcase the creations of today's France, the resilience and vibrancy of our film industry.

Yesterday, today ... tomorrow's Indian and French cinema: here lies our common goal. My wish is that the Indian and French filmmakers of tomorrow should make the best of this opportunity to meet and interact. BONJOUR INDIA will thus contribute to an ever-closer cooperation between our two countries in an artistic medium which is central to both our cultures.