Curtains down on IFFI
Indo-Bangla film bags Golden Peacock
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, DEC 2
Indo-Bangladesh movie ‘Moner Manush’ was awarded the prestigious Golden Peacock for the best film at the 41st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) on Thursday.
The award carries a citation and prize money of Rs 40 lakh for the film’s producer and director. The Bengali director Gautam Ghosh received Rs 20 lakh from the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Choudhary Mohan Jatua and other dignitaries.
Kaushik Ganguly’s story on homosexuality ‘Just Another Love Story’, bagged the special jury award — a Silver Peacock, a citation and a cash prize of Rs 15 lakh. The award was also shared with New Zealand film ‘Boy’ by Taika Waititi. ‘The Crossing’ from Turkey was adjudged the second best film.
The Best Director award was bagged by Susanne Bier of Denmark for her film ‘In a Better World’. The Best Actor Award of Rs 10 lakh each went to the Turkish actor Guven Kirac for his role in the film “The Crossing” while the Best Actress Award was won by Magdalena Boczarska of Poland for “Little Rose”.
The films were judged by five-member jury led by Polish filmmaker Jerzy Antczak, Emmy award winning Canadian filmmaker Sturla Gunnars, Australian legendary actor Mick Molloy, French filmmaker Oliver Pere and South Indian film actress Revathy Menon.
The 11-day extravaganza came to a close with the screening of the French film ‘The Princess of Montpensier’, directed by Bertrand Tavernier.
Addressing an over-crowded auditorium at Kala Academy, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat said that he looks forward to holding the 42nd edition of IFFI in Goa. He said that the new initiatives like e-ticketing in IFFI 2010 received tremendous success and sale of tickets went up to one lakh as against 80,000 in IFFI 2009.
Replying to frequently asked queries on infrastructure for the festival, Kamat said that efforts are on to set up a good convention centre in the State. He further said that they are analysing and taking corrective measures to enhance the festival every year.
Jatua said that the Indian film industry is experiencing phenomenal growth of 16 per cent and by next year its turnover would cross Rs 17,500 crore. He said Indian cinema stands on the cusp of being cinema of the world but we must deliver to sustain our position.
Festival Director, S M Khan said that the Festival received entries from all over the world and offered the delegates, media critic and film buffs an opportunity to watch the best of Indian and world cinema.
Starting with a note about Goa being tagged as a party place, chief guest for the function Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan told the gathering that the State can be tagged as the best film festival destination.
“Goa is more than just partying.I am told that there is history…and it is a best place for film festivals. Goa from a partying to a film destination is a welcome change but the Festival should go on to become an international favourite”, he quipped.
Four Indian film actors namely South Indian actress Padma Priya, acclaimed West Bengal actor Prosenjit Chatterjee and national award winners Priya Mani and Arjun Rampal were felicitated during the ceremony.
The 41st edition of the IFFI screened over 300 films from 61 countries with Andy Emmony’s “West is West” as the inaugural movie. The festival was inaugurated by Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee with renowned Hindi film director Yash Chopra as the Chief Guest and Bollywood actor Ajay Devgan as the Guest of Honour.
The Indian Panorama presented a cluster of 26 feature and 21 non-feature films from the best and promising film makers from across the country.
In the Tributes section, IFFI paid homage Bina Rai, Pamela Rooks, Sujit Kumar, Keshu Ramsay, Debu Deodhar, Pankaj Advani, Nirmal Pandey, Tahir Hussain, Vishnuvardhan and Ravi Baswani.
Centenaries of five unforgettable cinema talents – Ashok Kumar, B R Panthulu, Motilal, Nadia and RajaParanjpe – were also observed by screening their films.
A new section ‘Academy Interest’ was also introduced from this year and a special screening of India’s official Oscar entry this year ‘Peepli Live’ was also organized.
From this year onwards, films from across the globe competed for the prestigious awards, which have been calculated to Rs 90 lakh (200,000 US-highest amount to be awarded in any Festival in the world.
