CANNES : 28 year old Kolkata-based Satyajit Ray Film and TV Institute student filmmaker Raka Dutta's short film Chinese Whispers is being screened on 25 May in the Cinefoundation competition under the student short film category.

She is the only Indian filmmaker to have her film in the competitive section this year. Last year, Gitanjali Rao too had her film as part of the short film competition and she went on to win two awards which are given during the Cannes film festival.

Raka Dutta

Dutta landed in Cannes today and was filmed making a pitch for Shorts TV, a channel which carried short films in France. The young lady, who made the film as part of her course she is doing at the institute, submitted it to the Cinefoundation competition in February. And in end-March, she got a call from its head saying her film had been selected.

"I had been dreaming about the a film being a part of Cannes for nearly five years," she says with a deep look in her eyes. "The idea for the film came from the fact there are many people we come across daily who we may not be in active conversation with, but we develop a relationship which is purely based on the fact that we encounter each other regularly. When these persons are not there, then it can be pretty painful," she says. "My film examines this premise."

Hopefully The 28-minute film will stir the jury into rewarding it.