Japanese Film Ring Wandering, directed by Masakazu Kaneko, bagged the Golden Peacock Award at the 52nd International Film Festival of India. The festival’s closing ceremony was held in Goa on Sunday.
The jury commended Ring Wandering, which resurrects memories of Tokyo’s hidden war-torn past, for being “a beautifully photographed combination of fantasy and manga-inspired reality.”
Czech filmmaker Vaclav Kadrnka was awarded the Silver Peacock Award for Best Director for his film Saving One Who is Dead. The Silver Peacock Awards for acting performances in the Male and Female categories went to Indian actor Jitendra Bhikulal Joshi, who essayed the role of late Marathi actor and filmmaker Nishikant Kamat in the film Godavari, and Spanish actor Angela Molina for the film Charlotte, respectively.
Marathi film Godavari also fetched its director Nikhil Mahajan a Silver Peacock for Special Jury Award, which was shared with Brazilian actor Renata Carvalho for her role in filmmaker Rodrigo de Oliveira’s The First Fallen.
Russian film The Dorm, directed by Roman Vasyanov, bagged a special mention for “its impactful narration of the complicated and corrupted society of 1984 USSR.”
Director Mari Alessandrini’s Zahori won the Best Debut Feature Film award, while the Spanish film The Wealth of the World received a special mention in the same category.
For the first time, the BRICS Film Festival was held alongside the IFFI and the sixth BRICS Film Festival Awards were also announced at the closing ceremony on Sunday. National Award-winning actor Dhanush bagged the Best Actor (Male) award for his performance in the 2019 Tamil film Asuran. Brazilian actor Lara Boldorini was honoured with the award in the Best Actor (Female) category for her coming-of-age role in the film On Wheels.
South African film Barakat and Russian film The Sun above Me Never Sets shared the Best Film Award, while Brazilian filmmaker Lúcia Murat was awarded Best Director for her documentary Ana. Director Yan Han from China got the Jury Special Mention Award for the film A Little Red Flower.
Meanwhile, the Indian Film Personality of the Year Award for 2021 was presented to Prasoon Joshi, popular lyricist and chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification, for his contribution to cinema, popular culture and socially significant artistic work.
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Addressing the gathering at the closing ceremony, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur spoke about a new initiative started this year, named ‘75 Creative Minds of Tomorrow’, to identify and nurture young talents.
A group of 75 budding artists were hosted at the IFFI and given an opportunity to exhibit their talents at the international platform. According to the press release, the 75 youngsters – comprising of seven female and 68 male artists, all below 35 years of age – were chosen based on their skills in different fields of filmmaking, including direction, editing, singing and screenplay, among others. The youngest was a 16-year-old boy named Aryan Kumar from Bihar, who was chosen for his skills in film direction.
“I am confident that some of them will come back after a few years not just as a part of the film industry, but also as icons of cinema,” said the minister.