1. Bilateral Cultural Relations: Indo-French relations in the field of culture are vibrant and active and there are regular culture exchanges between the two countries. French interest in India has widened, and extends beyond traditional aspects of Indian culture. This new interest touches almost every domain: art and culture, cinema, heritage, literature and languages. Speaking of ‘French interest’ – this includes both art-lovers from mainland France and its overseas territories. Indian culture in France is also creating space for itself beyond Paris – in all the big cities and smallest of the towns.
2. Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP): The bilateral cooperation in the domain of culture falls under the purview of the Indo-French Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP). The last Indo-French CEP was signed in February 2007 in New Delhi. A number of important events were held under this bilateral accord over the years. Some of the significant events including Year-long Festival of India in France in 1985-86, reciprocally followed by the Festival of France in India in 1990-91; a major exhibition "the Golden Age of Classical India" – the Gupta Empire" held at the prestigious Grand Palais in 2007; a month long event "Incredible India" held at the Jardin d’Acclimation from April-May 8, 2007; festival focused on India as country of Honour sponsored by the well known fashion home "Hermes" at the prestigious Chantilly Hippodrome and as guest of honour at Salon du Livre in 2007 and in the Poetry market in June 2008. Under the existing CEP the Embassy is currently in the process of organising all-encompassing India-focused events in France for year 2010 and 2011, some of which include the Festival d’Automne, a Tribal Arts Exhibition in musee Quai Branly, a contemporary Arts Exhibition in Centre George Pompidou and a film festival with Musee Guimet. Under the same accord, the Embassy is also coordinating with French counterparts implementation of a four-month-long French cultural festival in India commencing in October 2009.
3. ICCR and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting: Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting are the implementing agencies of CEP as well as the bilateral scholarships in different cultural domains. Annually 5-6 candidates are selected for the scholarship. So far since 1986 a total of 155 candidates have been covered under scholarships (in cultural domain) programme. Under the CEP bilateral exchange of students in the field of film-making had 1- 2 students being sponsored by Le Femis (Ecole Nationale Superieure des métiers de l’image et du son) – Institute of film-making, Paris each year.
4. Bilateral Visits: Several important visits have taken place in recent years including the visit to France of Minister of Tourism and Culture Ms Ambika Soni in 2007 and by a French delegation of 9 Senators from the Cultural Affairs Commission to India from April 20 to 26, 2008. Secretarial level visits include visit of Ms Asha Swarup, Secretary Information & Broadcasting to Cannes in 2007 and Annecy in June 2008 and Ms Veronique Cayla, President CNC to India in January 2008. DG ICCR is due to visit on April 2009.
5. Indian Culture Centre: Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India has its Culture Centres in all the major countries, prime objective of which is to promote Indian culture and facilitate cultural exchanges. Efforts to establish Indian Culture Centre in Paris are continuing. During the Prime Minister’s visit to France in September 2008 both India and France agreed on a political commitment towards establishing of an Indian Culture Centre in Paris.
6. Partnerships to promote Indian Culture: Despite the absence of a dedicated Culture Centre, the Embassy is partnering with various Indo-French associations and leading French cultural organisations promoting a variety of arts to organise events in France. These include – Maison des Cultures du Monde, Theatre de la Ville (Paris), Centre George Pompidou, Musee Guimet, Musee Quai Branly, various other museums, Mairies in Paris and other cities of France.
7. 2008-09 Events: Participation by Indian artists has become a regular feature in every major cultural event in France. There are on average 4-5 major events per month with either India as a central theme, or Indian events as part of major event or events organised by Indian and French associations. The list below gives an idea of the range of activities. For more details please see the ‘calendar of events’ :
·Visual arts: There have been about 31 photo exhibitions, including those on the occasion of commemoration of Gandhiji’s death anniversary and 21 art exhibitions.
·Performing Arts: 23 music concerts (Hindustani and Carnatic); 24 dance performances, 14 cultural festivals and 13 Film Festivals with Indian participation.
·India as "Country of Honour": India was a "Country of Honour" in about dozen cultural events covering varied fields – Cinema, Performing arts, visual arts, plastic arts, literature, fashion…
·Embassy cleared over 100 audio-visual proposals largely including documentary projects for leading French channels and some feature films. A total of 251 documentaries were telecast in a span of one year.
8. Honours and Awards: Mr. Sayed Hyder Raza, a Paris based artist was awarded the Padma Bhushan on the occasion of 2007 Republic Day Celebrations in the field of arts, this being one of India’s highest civilian awards in the field of arts. Dominique Lapierre a noted FrenchHYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Author"author was awarded for his contributions in literary field the Padma Bhushan, in the 2008 Republic Day honours list. Some of Lapierre’s important and famous books include "The City of Joy (1985)" and "Five Past Midnight in Bhopal (2001)". In March 2008, Ms Shyama Ramani, Indian research scholar currently with INRA, France and the Friend-in-Need Trust working on several research & development programmes received an award for her contributions in Indo-French Project on Tsunami rebuilding from the Yves Rocher Foundation. The film "A grave-keeper’s tale" (Maati Maay) by Chitra Palekar won the special Jury Prize at the Festival des Films des Femmes (Women’s Film Festival), Créteil held in March 2008. Ketan Mehta’s and Sudhir Mishra were felicitated by French awards in June 2008 for their works in Indian cinema. French Embassy in New Delhi in June 2008, honoured Yash Chopra for his contributions in Indian cinema. At the Annecy film festival of animation films in June Film directed by Ms Nina Paley (NRI based in US) – "Sita sings the blues" based on Indian epic, Ramayana won the crystal award in the feature film category. Mr. Ashish Pandey’s film "the Cabin Man" received award in the Rail Film Festival in Paris
9. Indian/Indo-French associations in France: There are about 47 Indian/Indo-French Cultural Associations in France registered under the French law of 1901. These associations are involved in promoting Indo-French relations especially in the fields of culture and spirituality.
