NEW DELHI: The Franco-Iranian co-production, ‘A Separation’ by Asghar Farhadi, bagged the top Golden Camel Award for best Director while its actress Sareh Bayat received the Best Actress Award in the International Category at the Fourth Airtel Jaipur International Film Festival which concluded today in the Pink City.
In the award ceremony dominated by films from Iran and India, the Red Rose Award for best film released between October 2010 and October 2011 went to ‘Golchehreh’ by Vahid Mousaian of Iran.
Iran won the best animation film award for ‘The Jar’ by Ali Ahmadi at the end of the festival which had commenced on 27 January with the presentation of the Life Achievement Award to veteran actor Jaya Bachchan who inaugurated the Festival.
The festival featured 178 films from 70 countries of the world and awards were given in 28 categories including four awards for Rajasthani films.
During the award ceremony, thespian Om Puri, Princess Diya Kumari, members of the jury, Hollywood producer Leslee Udwin, Festival director Hanu Roj, as well as cinema dignitaries from around the world were present.
The Green Rose Award for the film which gives a Global message went to ‘The Pipe’ from Austria by Risteard Dohmnaill, while the Yellow Rose Award for the upcoming film which had its world premiere in Jaipur went to the British-India co-production ‘Pink Saris’ by Kim Longinotto.
The Indian film ‘Handover’ by Saurabh Kumar won the Special Jury Mention as well as the best actress award in the national category for Nutan Sinha.
Senior actor Ila Arun and actor Shilpa Shetty bagged the Special Jury Mentions for their acting in the British film ‘West is West’ starring Om Puri in the main role, and the Indian film ‘The Desire - A woman of Journey’.
The Bangladeshi film ‘Meherjaan’ by Rubaiyat Hossain won the Best Critics Award, while the best debutante director award went to Angelo Cianci for the Franco-Luxembourg film ‘Top Floor Left Wing’.
The best short film award went to ‘Khule Darwaze’ by Ashish Pandey, with the film also bagging the award for best sound for Tapas Nayak. The best short director award went to Mitu Kumar for ‘Banwara Mann’. ‘Dilli’ by Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas of India got the Best Documentary award.
The best cinematography award went to Chris Freilich of the United States for the Japan-US co-production “Miyuki’s Wind Bell”, while C R Reisser and Olivia Retzar bagged the editing award for the German film ‘Protect the Nation’. The best script award went to Israel’s Joseph Fackenheim and Ariel Weisbrod for ‘A Wonderful Day’.
Spain’s ‘Dulce’ (Sweet) by Ivan Ruiz Flores won the Special Jury mention for short films, while this award went to Patrick Chadwick of the United Kingdom in the documentary category for ‘Memories of Old Awake’.
‘The Tigers, they are all dead’ by Reema Sengupta of India received the award for best film with upcoming stars. Johnny Maa of Australia won the Special Jury Mention for upcoming star for the film ‘The Robbery’.
The Special Jury Mention went to ‘Bat Wahi Hai’ by Nina Sabnani of India.
The four awards for Rajasthani films were: short film – ‘Facepack’ by Gaurav Panjwani, documentary – ‘Jungal mein Jallianwala’ by Anurag Sharma, animation – ‘LOC’ by Kuldeep Saini, and Special Jury Mention – ‘The End’ by Rakesh Gogna.
The organisation of the market section ‘The Merchant’ rendered a new energy to all the filmmakers. Two workshops and three seminars were also conducted. These workshops and seminars helped an immense number of participants with valuable lessons and knowledge.
The next year’s Festival will commemorate 100 successful years of Indian cinema.
Marc Baschet, producer of the Academy Award winning film ‘No Man’s Land’, was the special guest at the inauguration which saw the presence of a large number of major filmmakers from countries like the United States, England, Nigeria and France.
Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, inventor of the Mohan Veena, gave a scintillating performance at the opening.
Festival Director Hanu Roj said, “Cinema is one such art that make the inner and outer self of a person beautiful. The participation of hundreds of filmmakers from around the world is sufficient to tell how much they trust in JIFF. The festival is a unique platform on which the filmmakers from any part of the world can come and express their dialogues in front of others“.
He added that the major objective of including the important monuments to the festival venues this year is that people can get close to the Rajasthani culture and feel very good about cinema. According to him, the major dream of developing the Film City in Rajasthan will be realised by the year 2016.
