MUMBAI: The 68th Venice Film Festival, which runs from 31 August to 10 September, 2011, has begun its call for entries in all categories for 2011.

Venice International Film Festival’s long association with Indian cinema dates back to the international premiere of Sant Tukaram in 1937. The festival’s importance as a global platform for Indian cinema was confirmed in 1957 when Satyajit Ray’s Aparajitowas awarded the prestigious Golden Lion.

More recently, Amit Dutta’s Aadmi Ki Aurat Aur Anya Kahaniya (The Man’s Woman and Other Stories), won a special jury award in the Orrizonti section of the 66th edition of the festival. Anurag Kashyap, Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra and many other contemporary Indian cinema personalities have also premiered their new features at the festival in the last couple of years.

This year Deepti DCunha from Mumbai has been appointed the Official Indian Consultant for the Venice International Film Festival. DCunha will be leading the pre-selection process for the entries sent from India for the Venice International Film Festival, 2011.

The selection process will start from 1 March and will continue till the end of June 2011. The festival’s director Marco Mueller will be visiting India in mid-March for a first shortlisting of the Indian film entries.