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15 May 2026
*"It is a moment of pride for Jharkhand and for Indian independent cinema,” Director Debaditya Bandopadhyay said of his film, according to timesnownews.com.Picture courtesy timesnownews.com.
For Director Debaditya Bandopadhyay, his environmentally rooted feature film Ped Chalta Hai (When The Tree Moves) which is slated to have its World Premiere today, May 14, at the Marché du Film, Cannes, is a project “born out of the soil and scorching heat of Jharkhand”.
Produced by Outline Expression in association with Masoom Art Group, the film’s inspiration came from “observing how disconnected modern life has become from nature,” even though one’s existence is wholly dependent on it.
In an exclusive interaction with Zoom, reports timesnownews.com,Debaditya, who believes that forests are not merely landscapes but rather “memory, livelihood, identity and survival,” revealed that Ped Chalta Hai emerged from conversations with people living close to forests and rivers flowing through Jharkhand.
“The film explores displacement, emotional belonging and ecological imbalance through a grounded cinematic narrative rather than a preachy approach. I always believed the strongest environmental stories are human stories first,” timesnownews.com quotes him as suggested by Debaditya.
Shot in Palamu, Jharkhand, the landscape and local environment is the emotional heartbeat of Ped Chalta Hai, revealed Debaditya.
“The forests, the dry textures, the silence, the sounds of the land - all of it shaped the film’s visual grammar and emotional tone,” he revealed elaborating on the tonality of Ped Chalta Hai.
Notably, the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival is a vibrant blend of environmental consciousness, regional storytelling, poetic narratives, independent cinema and cinematic heritage, proving once again that Indian cinema continues to evolve while remaining emotionally and culturally grounded.
Apart from Ped Chalta Hai, other films at Cannes include the Punjabi Chardikala starring Ammy Virk and Roopi Gill, Spirit Of The Wildflower by Shrimoyee Chakraborty, Shadows of the Moonless Night - another Punjabi short film also the restored 4K screening of the Malayalam classic Amma Ariyan by legendary Malayalam filmmaker John Abraham under the prestigious Cannes Classics section.
Cannes 2026 which commenced on the French Riviera from May 12 will go on till May 23.
