India, Jan. 22 -- The 24th Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) shone a light on the creative grit behind Marathi cinema today. At an interactive session titled, 'Voices of tomorrow: Conversations with today's Marathi competition," both debutants and veteran filmmakers shared personal, financial, and artistic struggles that shaped their films selected for the prestigious 'international Marathi competition' section.

Moderated by PIFF deputy director Vishal Shinde; the panel included Ramesh More (Aadishesh), Mohit Takalkar (To, Ti ani Fuji), Jijivisha Kale (Tighee), Ravindra Manik Jadhav (Jeev), Santosh Davkhar (Gondhal), Manoj Naiksatam (Gaman), and Sameer Tiwari (Bapya).

For Kale, who took over a decade to make her directorial debut,...