The 4th Bangalore International Film Festival (BIFFes) concluded on Thursday with South African film Lucky , produced by Christopher Wilmot and directed by Avie Luthra, winning the State Government's Golden Bherunda for best film. The award comes with a purse of Rs. 10 lakh.
What makes the award special is that the film features Kannada theatre personality B. Jayashree.
Feo Aladag of Germany bagged the Silver Berunda and Rs. 5 lakh for his directorial venture When We Leave . A jury comprising Sturla Gunnarsson of Canada, Xie Fei of China, Jan Erik Holst of Norway, Gunilla Burstedt of Sweden and P.H. Vishwanath of India selected the films.
Flying Fish from Sri Lanka by Sanjeewa Pushpa Kumar got the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) award of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, with a purse of Rs. 2 lakh. Sun Shaoyi of China, Dang Nhat Minh of Vietnam and Kesari Harvoo of India were the members of the jury.
Noble Chor , a Bengali film by Suman Ghosh, got the Suchitra Sanman in the Indian cinema section, with a purse of Rs. 2 lakh. The jury comprised Rafique Baghdadi, George Mathew, Manoj Barpujari, Rekha Deshpande and Subhash Desai.
Gandhi Smiles by Krish Joshi and Puttakkana Highway by B. Suresh shared the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy award, and Chintu School by Sheshagiri Yelameli got the Jury Special Mention. The jury comprised Subash Chougle, K.R. Manoj and Pradipta Nag.
Festival Director T.S. Nagabharana announced the awards at a press conference on Thursday along with Artistic Director of BIFFes H.N. Narahari Rao.
Speaking on behalf of the international section jury Mr. Vishwanath said Lucky was selected for its portrayal of the socio-political situation in South Africa. “We focussed on the film's ability to communicate rather than artistic quality.
In fact, Lovely Man by Teddy Soeriaatmadja of Indonesia came close to winning. When We Leave was the natural choice as it is a schematic drama about a woman trying to free herself from the emotional and physical violence of the cruel patriarchal system,” he said.
Mr. Harvoo, who was a jury member for the NETPACK award, said “We zeroed in on Flying Fish as the film weaves its narrative in the background of the Sri Lankan civil war.”
Mr. Chougle, a member of the Kannada section jury, said: “Since both Gandhi Smiles and Puttakkana Highway were good, we decided that the two films would share the award.”
