Cannes didn’t have a Kannada film pavilion this year. We’ll introduce one in 2026: Sadhu Kokila

Actor, director, and music composer Sadhu Kokila recently returned from the Cannes Film Festival, bringing valuable insights that he believes could benefit the Kannada film industry. “This was my second outing at Cannes, and this time, I focused on observing the proceedings closely and taking notes,” he said.

“Every country had strong representation, and the Bharat Pavilion stood out as particularly eclectic. I also noticed that several Indian states had their dedicated counters — but Karnataka was absent,” he rues.

“The numerous countries and various states from India who put up their pavilions at the festival did a wonderful job. They help create connections around the world and establish a global market, offering attractive features such as tourism and subsidies. Karnataka has a lot to offer, too. Karnataka also provides a subsidy of INR 3.5 crores to filmmakers from other countries. This is a golden opportunity, unfortunately, nobody is aware of it. Bearing all this in mind, we will take Karnataka to Cannes soon and create awareness about our industry there too,” he tells us.
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