Two Indian and one Russian film win the Golden Conch awards at MIFF news
Russian director Alexander Gutman’s August 17 won the Golden Conch for the Best Documentary, while The Spell directed by Umesh Kulkarni was adjudged the Best Fiction film at the 11th Mumbai International Film Festival of Documentary, Animation and Short Films, which concluded at NCPA, in Mumbai today.
The Jury didn’t find any documentary suitable for the Golden Conch in the Best Documentary film / video (Upto 30 mins) category. The Silver Conch and Rs.1,50,000 in the same category was shared between I Found A Thread by Tangella Madhavi of India and Vagabond- A Nomad In Spirit & In Reality by Mahvish Rahman, Priya Thuvassery, Swati Bhattacharya & Tulika of Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi.
There was a Jury Special Mention for two films, Nero’s Guests by Deepa Bhatia and Anwar – Dream of a Dark Night byAnwar Jamal.
Golden Conch and Rs.3,00,000 in Best Documentary film / video (Above 30 Mins) went to 17 August by Alexander Gutman of Russia. The Sun Behind the Clouds by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam was declared as the Second Best Documentary in this category.
The Spell by Indian film maker Umesh Kulkarni won the Best Fiction film / video (Upto 75 mins) while Vitthal by Vinoo Choliparambil won the Second Best fiction film. Ali and the Ball by Australian director Alex Holmes and Are You Listening by Geetu Mohan Das won a special mention.
Wait and Path by Sanjay Jangir of India won the Best Animation Film while Ukadi Pukadi by Anuj Kumar, Avinash Medhe, Jaikar Marur, Swarup Deb, Dhruv Rao from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad won the Second Best. Makrand Joshi’s Lost Home won a special mention from the Jury.
Best Debut Film / Video of a Director from Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari went to The Hunted-in Search of Home and Hope by Shaji Pattanam of India. Best Student film / video award from Indian Documentary Producers’ Association (IDPA) went to Bejinxed ! by Aditi Lakhotia, Ankita Prasad, Ankur Bansal, Jason Lawrence, Nishant Tripathi, Pakhi Mahajan, Prasant Golani, Sahil Israni, Supreet Singh Anand and Udit Panjwani of Whistling Woods International .
