Mumbai, Jun 4 (PTI) Dutch movie “Turn Your Body to the Sun” on Saturday bagged the Golden Conch award at the 17th edition of the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) for documentary, short fiction and animation films.
The seven-day festival, organised in hybrid mode, saw a line-up featuring 400 films from across the world, out of which 102 titles were screened under the Competition Category — 35 in international competition and 67 in national competition.
The Golden Conch award was presented by the Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari at the closing ceremony, held at the Nehru Centre, Mumbai, in presence of Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting L Murugan and other dignitaries. The award carries a golden conch, a certificate and cash prize of Rs 10 lakh.
Directed by Aliona Van der Horst, “Turn Your Body to the Sun” brings to light the incredible life story of a Soviet soldier of Tatar descent, who was captured by the Nazis during World War II.
Eighteen documentary films from Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Panama, South Korea, UK and India were in the International Competition section of MIFF 2022.
In the short fiction category, Malayalam film “Saakshatkaaram” shared the Silver Conch award with Gudmund Helsmsal’s Faroese language film “Brother Toll”.
The award carries a silver conch, a certificate and cash prize of Rs 2.5 lakhs, to be shared equally between the director and the producer. “Prince in a Pastry Shop”, directed by Polish filmmaker Katarzyna Agopsowicz, won the Silver Conch for best animation film in the international competition category. The award carries a silver conch, a certificate and cash prize of Rs 5 lakh, to be shared between the director and the producer.
Italian director and producer Nicola Piovesan won the ‘Pramod Pati – most innovative /experimental film’ for his movie “Closed to the Light’ Nicola Piovesan”.
“Ghar Ka Pata” by Madhulika Jalali and Films Division production “Who Says The Lepchas Are Vanishing?” by Abhuydaya Khaitan received special mentions from the international jury.
The jury was headed by French documentary filmmaker Mina Rad and also included Israeli filmmaker Dan Wolman, wildlife filmmaker Subbiah Nallamuthu, French filmmaker Jean Pierre Saire, and national film award-winning journalist Anant Vijay.
In the National Competition section, Ojaswwee Sharma’s “Admitted” won the Silver Conch award for best documentary film (above 60 minutes). In the same section, Assamese director Aimee Barua’s “Screaming Butterflies” and “Geru Patra”, helmed by Shristipal Singh, won the awards for best documentary film (below 60 minutes) and best short fiction film (up to 45 minutes), respectively.
Best animation film in the national competition section was awarded to director Adithi Krishnadas for “Kandittundu” (Seen It)’.
Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari award for best debut director was awarded to Bimal Poddar for his film “Radha”.
The IDPA award for best student film went to “Megha”, a Bengali film directed by Rishi Bhaumik.
The national jury was chaired by national award-winning filmmaker Sanjit Narwekar. The other members were Bangladesh filmmaker Tareq Ahmed, theatre artiste Jayasree Bhattacharya, Sri Lankan journalist and film critic Ashley Ratnavibhushana and film editor Subhash Sehgal. PTI KKP RB RB
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