After a week of 175 entertaining cinema for the film lovers, curtains for the 30th Kolkata International Film Festival came down today with the movie, Tarika bagging two crucial awards in the Innovation In Moving Images’ in international competition category.
The 30th edition of the KIFF had a new section for the first time. Named as the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Award in International competition on ‘Innovation in Moving Images’ for the best film, the section had eminent film personalities as jury members. The Bulgarian movie competing with 13 other films from various corners of the world received the International Competition on innovation in Moving Images, International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Award. The directorial by filmmaker Milko Lazarov also got the Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for the best film in international competition category along with a cash prize of Rs 51 lakh.
The closing ceremony with a special dance performance by the troupe of Dona Ganguly, at Rabindra Sadan this evening witnessed a star-studded event. The jury, including eminent film personalities from various corners of the world, also chose Ana Endara from Panama as ‘The Best Director’ for the Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award’, under the category of ‘Innovation In Moving Images’ in international competition. The third award in the category for ‘Special Jury Mention’ was announced for the film Dead Man’s Switch by director, Alejandro Gerber Bicecci.
The award for the best film in another important category, called the Asian Select-NETPAC section, was given to the Indian film, Putulnama by director Ranajit Ray. The film narrates the plight of the artists involved in the puppetry show, an art form which is on the verge of being lost.
Amid huge applause from audiences, three awards were announced for the Hiralal Sen Memorial Award on Indian Language’s Films category, which is another important section of awards given at the KIFF every year. A Kannada language film Lachhi by Krishne Gowda was announced the winner of the best film in the category while Nukkad Naatak was deemed as the winner of the special jury mention award. A third award in the category was given to Aaryan Chandra Prakash as the ‘Best Director’ for his film, Aajoor in Bajjika Language.
Notably, the Bengali Panorama’ section which was added to the KIFF awards last year had seven participants at the 30th KIFF. The award for the best film in the second edition of the category was given to the movie Dhrubor Aschorjo Jibon by Abhijit Chowdhury.
Likewise, the other category of awards named as the award for the best short film under ‘Competition on Indian Short Films’ with a prize money of Rs five lakh was given to Goolar Ke Phool in Bengali language by Aron Mitra. The Indian documentary category had two winners in the Special Jury Mention section namely Melvilasam (address) by Hariprasad K N in Malayalam language and Mozzat (Mozzat) in Bengali by Amrit Sarkar. The Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for the Best Indian Documentary film was announced for Bhabotosher Karkhana (Bhabotosh and his Rocket Factory) by Dipanjan Choudhury with a prize money of Rs 3 lakh.
Meanwhile, the city’s iconic film festival celebrated the 30th edition this year with over 1.10 lakh audience present at the inaugural ceremony and numerous others watching the event online. The closing ceremony had a surprise guest over the phone when chief minister Mamata Banerjee congratulated the participants. Conveying her good wishes for Christmas, she thanked the participants and foreign filmmakers urging them to come back again.