37th International FilmFestival of India (IFFI)

Some “wonderful cinema”and some “glitches”brought the curtains down onthe 37th International FilmFestival of India (IFFI).Chinese director HasiChaolu’s The Old Barberwonthe Best Film award and theGolden Peacock along with acash prize of Rs. 10 lakh for“making us ponder how tolive in this changing world.”All the three top awards forthe ‘Best Film,’ ‘Special Jury’and the ‘Most Promising Director’went to Asiancountries.The Old Barberis a simpletale of a breed of people andplaces vanishing in the face ofrapid urbanisation. The filmhas a real-life nonagenarianbarber Jing Kui in a convincingperformance as himself.The jury, headed by Australiandirector Rolf de Heerand comprising French directorOlivier Assayas, Polish actressGrazyna Szapolowska,Argentinian actress LeticiaBredice and India’s nationalaward-winning director JahnuBarua, awarded the SilverPeacock and a cash prize ofRs. 5 lakh to An Kung-Lee ofSouth Korea for the MostPromising Director for herThe closing ceremony ofthe festival, held at the KalaAcademy auditorium, was amore sober function with aperformance by Amaan andAyaan Ali Bangash, whoplayed experimental music.“We are honoured to performhere though we don’t belongto the film fraternity,” theysaid. The brothers playedcompositions from their newalbum “Truth.”The festival, meanwhile,got thumbs up from the chiefguest, director Aparna Sen.She said the festival’s USP layin celebrating Indian cinema.“At IFFI, there is an IndianPanorama section that celebratesthe regional cinema ofthe country. IFFI brings allcinemas of India under oneroof. It is a celebration of themany shades of India.”Goa Chief Minister PratapsinghRane offered hiscongratulations to the winners.He admitted “there werecertain hiccups at thefestival.”Expressing “regrets for theinconvenience,” the ChiefMinister promised the “peoplewould be wiser for the experience”next year.in a non-judgmental way.Two Indian films in thissection, Ahsan Muzid’s Sonam,the first Arunachali filmin Monpa dialect, and SharadaRamanathan’s Sringaramfailed to make the cut in acompetition of 11 films fromthree continents.However, contrary to theannouncement, there was noentry from Africa, renderingit a two-continent race, withAsian cinema winning the accoladesahead of Latin America.Films and directors fromaward ceremony.The Special Jury Award,comprising a Silver Peacockand Rs. 5 lakh in cash, went toBangladesh director Abu Sayeed’sNirontor (ForeverFlows), the country’s officialentry to this year’s Oscars underthe Best Foreign Languagecategory. The film willbe competing with RakeshOmprakash Mehra’s Rang DeBasantifor honours.The jury found in Mr. Sayeed’sfilm “a strong drama,ambiguities of relationship