Subrat Dutta: It also takes financial support to make it to Oscar

Subrat Dutta, the lead actor of the film "Josef-Born In Grace" that is in the contention list of the 92nd Oscar Awards says that not only the quality of the film but also a certain amount of financial support is required to "make it to the nomination list" for the Academy Award.

Directed by the National award-winning filmmaker Susant Misra, written by Umakanta Mahapatra, the film features Victor Banerjee and Subrat Dutt in the lead role and it is a story of father-son.

Subrat told IANS: "I so wish that we had the support of a big production house to invest money to promote the film in a manner to create visibility. We, as the team of the film, we are happy that we have managed to make it to the contention list. But our producer retired civil servant, Captain Ashok Mahapatra is a new producer. We did not have that much money to host as many screening as possible to reach out to people. We released the film theatrically in the USA as a part of the rule but it takes a lot of publicity and industry support to create the visibility for a film to get it to the nomination list."

The final nomination list of the Academy Awards will be announced on January 13.

One of the rules of making a film to the eligible list, the film has to open in a commercial theatre by December 31 and begin a minimum run of seven days consecutively.

The film "Josef-Born In Grace" is based out of a short story of an orphan boy named Josef and the story are set in a mountain. The film received a positive response at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa last year.

Subrat said: "For us, making it to that list of 344 films is also a big deal, considering there is no studio backing our film, and our producer is very new in the business. We wish, at least, back in home, people appreciate our effort and we get support. We all know that releasing a film is much expensive than making it."

Since 1957, India has sent several films but only three films, "Mother India", "Salaam Bombay!", and "Lagaan" managed to make it to the nomination list.

This year, Zoya Akhtar's directorial "Gully Boy" was the Indian entry for the Best International Feature Film, but did not make it to the nomination list. On the other hands, Michelin star chef Vikas Khanna's directorial debut "The Last Color" is one of the 344 feature films eligible list.

The 92nd Academy Awards will be held on February 9.