MUMBAI: The curtains of the 11th edition of Mumbai Film Festival (MFF) was wrung down yesterday but not before a glittering closing ceremony heralded the closure of the seven-day Festival.

Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos received the International Lifetime Achievement award for giving the world some thought-provoking and visually appealing films.

The evening saw the honouring of Amitabh Bachchan for completing 40 years in the film industry. Thanking the MFF for the honour, Bachchan said, "I am really grateful to the Indian film industry for tolerating me for so many years. I remember all the wonderful people who got associated with me."

Production house Navketan Films was also felicitated for completing 60 golden years in the film industry.

Later the awards were announced.

British film White Lightnin won the best film award in the 'First Feature Films of Directors' category and annexed the Golden Gateway of India award. Director
Dominic Murphy pocketed the cash prize of $ 50,000. Producers, Mike Downey and Sam Taylor collected a cash prize of $ 50,000.

The Australia-Italy film La Pivellina (The Little One) was presented with the Silver Gateway of India award. The two directors Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel collected cash prize of $ 25,000 while a cash prize of $ 25,000 was handed over to producer Rainer Frimmel.

The Best Director award was given to Adria'n Biniez for the film Gigante-a Uruguay-Germany-Argentina-Netherlands film. Biniez collected the Silver Gateway of India award in the 'First Feature Films of Directors' category.

The Best Actress award was awarded to Paprika Steen for Applause - a Denmark film with she collecting the Silver Gateway of India award in the category.

The Best Actor went to Edward Hogg for the film White Lightnin. He collected the
the Silver Gateway of India award for in the category.

The jury award for best cinematographer and best sound recordist was given to Mark Gyori and Gyorgy Kovacf respectively for Katalin Varga - a Romania-UK-Hungary film. They collected the Silver Gateway of India award for their respective categories.

The jury headed by Paul Schrader had Irene Bignardi, Shaji N Karun, Vimukhti Jayasundara and Brillante Mendonza as its other members.

MAMI Chairman Shyam Benegal and trustees Yash Copra, Jaya Bachchan, Amit Khanna, Amol Palekar along with festival jury members graced the occasion. Also present were Anil and Tina Ambani.

Remarked Benegal, "This festival brought together some of the best cinematic talent from across the globe. We watched some very well-crafted films covering a range of thematics and issues."

The evening was hosted by Kunal Kohli and Shefali Shah while singers Anushka Manchanda and Kunal Ganjawala performed.