The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) has announced that its student Chidanand Naik has won the Cannes La Cinef Award for Best Short at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, a PIB press release said.
This is a historic moment for Indian cinema as it is the first time that a film made by a student of the FTII has been selected and won an award at a prestigious international film festival. The film, titled ‘Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know’, has been directed by Chidanand Naik, shot by Suraj Thakur, edited by Manoj V, and sound by Abhishek Kadam.
The film is a story of an elderly woman who steals the village’s rooster, which throws the community into disarray. To bring the rooster back, a prophecy is invoked, sending the old lady’s family into exile. This FTII film is a production of the TV Wing’s One-year program where four students from different disciplines – Direction, ElectronicCinemography, Editing, and Sound – worked together on a project as a part of their final-year coordinated exercise. The students worked on the film as part of their final-year coordinated exercise and passed out of FTII in 2023.
The entire team of ‘Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know’ was congratulated by R Madhavan, President of FTII. He said, “Congratulations to Mr. Chidananda Naik and to the entire team of ‘Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know’ for this very prestigious honour. May this be just the beginning of an illustrious career with many more extraordinary recognition and love. Also, a big cheer and respect to all staff and administration of FTII for churning out such world-class talent.”