Pariyerum Perumal , directed by Mari Selvaraj, won the best Tamil feature film award at the 16th Chennai International Film Festival (CIFF), as part of the Tamil Film Competition section.
The awards were distributed at the closing ceremony on Thursday evening, and both Mari Selvaraj and Pa.Ranjith, who had produced the film, received the honour. Director duo Gayathri-Pushkar, part of the jury, said that 12 films had been short-listed for the awards and the decision to pick the film had been unanimous. The film 96 , directed by Prem Kumar was adjudged the second best Tamil film and director Vetrimaaran received a special jury award for directing Vada Chennai and producing Annanukku Jai.
The film festival, which began on December 13, saw over 150 films being screened. “We had more than 3,500 registrations this year which was a record in itself and were very pleased with the response for the film festival,” said S. Kannan, President of the Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation which is organising the festival.
Speaking on the occasion, Kadambur Raju, Minister for Information and Publicity, said the State government was working with the Tamil film industry and ensuring that they work in coordination. “Further, the Tamil Nadu government will be giving away the state awards for films in January close to the Pongal festival in 2019. The ceremony was to be held in November this year but had got postponed,” he added.
