Three emerging filmmakers took away prizes from Indian cinema icon Amitabh Bachchan on Thursday evening at a packed Woodlands theatre.
The Bollywood star was chief guest at the closing ceremony of the 10th Chennai International Film Festival (CIFF). Five shortlisted documentaries, each two minutes in length, were screened - “World Cinema” by Arikarasudhan, “Chennai Gaana” by Vydianathan Ramaswamy, Praveen Kumar’s “Rikshaw,” Lokesh’s “Dhobi Khana” and finally, “Slice of Chennai in the U.S.” by Santosh Murali.
While the biggest prize for these filmmakers was to shake hands with big B, their efforts were rewarded with cash prizes of Rs. 30,000, Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 10,000, sponsored by Casa Grande, for the first, second and third prizes, respectively.
The second runner-up – for walking us through the by-lanes of the city and discovering a treasure trove of cinema, - “World Cinema” by Arikarasudhan. The last line of the documentary - "World cinema na Burma Bazaar dhaan!" drew healthy applause from the audience.
The first runner up was a maverick, devoid of dialogue and with a narrative entirely in song – “Chennai Gaana” by Vydianathan Ramaswamy!
Bagging the first ever first prize of The Hindu CIFF Documentary Contest , for showing us a facet of the city as vital as the clothes we wear, with a poignant narrative, for revealing a city in need of a clean-up, a focussed attempt completely in tune with the tenets of documentary-making, S. Lokesh for “Dhobi Khana.” Past, present and future of Vannanthurai in two minutes.
The Radio Partner for the contest was Chennai Live 104.8 FM.
