Milestone (Meel Pathar), an Indian film, won the Best Film Award at the Silver Screen Awards, the closing event of the Singapore International Film Festival.
The official Facebook page of the Singapore Film Festival said that the jury felt that the movie had a strong script and direction. It noted that it was a humanist story that was “nothing flashy, but confident and nuanced”.
“Its strength is in how it draws the audience into its story with scenes that are complex and well executed. The directing is firm and creates an evenness throughout the whole film,” the jury said.
Directed by Ivan Ayr, the movie stars Suvinder Vicky, who also won the Silver Screen award for Best Performer in the Asian Feature Film Competition category. The jury said Vicky’s performance was “delicately understated and quiet, yet with a power that carried us through the film. It was full of emotion but held together with a beautifully restrained quality.”
According to a report by Variety, the movie “recounts the recounts the foretaste of doom that follows a veteran truck driver when his vehicle passes half a million kilometers and he is asked to train a younger operator.”
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The film has been edited by Ayr as well. It premiered at the 77th Venice Film Festival in its Horizon section. The movie was also shown at the Stockholm Film Festival and the Pingyao Film Festival.
According to WION News, the film was shot in Haryana and the dialogues are partially in Punjabi. The movie was shot earlier this year, in January and February.
Ayr had previously directed the 2018 film Soni, which is a crime drama based in New Delhi.
The film festival was conducted as a hybrid event with both virtual and real-time screenings. While the ceremony was held as a closed-door event, the whole ceremony has been recorded. The recording will be made available from December 7.