MH-MIFF

'Babenco: Tell Me...', Manjule's short film win big at MIFF
    Mumbai, Feb 3 (PTI) Brazilian filmmaker Barbara Paz's
"Babenco: Tell Me When I Die" hasbagged the prestigious
Golden Conch Award for Best Documentary Film at the 16th
edition of the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) that
concluded on Monday.
    At the closing ceremony of the festival that began on
January 28, "Sairat" director Nagraj Manjules "Paavsacha
Nibandh" (An Essay of Rain) received the Silver Conch for Best
Short Fiction Film.
    "Babenco: Tell Me When I Die" a tender immersion
into the life of the South American filmmaker and Paz's late
life partner Hector Babenco got the highest honour for its
intimate and celebratory portrayal of the Brazilian film
director and his reflections of life and death.
    Receiving the award on behalf of the director, Consul
General of Brazil Guilherme Patriota read out a written
message from Paz which said winning the award fills her with
huge emotion.
    "'Babenco' is a film about love, the love of cinema,
the love of life. It is a film about how to say farewell to
life by doing what you love, filming till the last. Brazil
thanks you for this prize. Director Babenca is dancing in
Paradise," the letter read.
    Manjule's film tells the story of a ten-year-old boy
who writes an essay on rain for a school assignment.
    The film bagged the honour for its evocation of a
grim social reality through the metaphor of rain that
transforms into an unwritten essay," a statement read.
    TheSilver Conch Award for the Best Animation Film has
been shared by two films the German film "Portrait of
Suzanne", directed by Izabela Plucinska, and the Indian film
"Panangaatu Nari" (The Fox of the Palmgrove) by Divakar SK.
    Speaking on the occasion, Maharashtra governor Bhagat
Singh Koshyari highlighted the important role of documentary
films and exhorted filmmakers to improve public awareness and
sensitivity towards societal and humanitarian issues, so as to
inculcate higher values and inspire actions among people.
    Bhagat said this will make such films timeless and
remembered and lived by generations to come.
    Chairman, International Jury, Shaji N Karun, said for
filmmakers, Films Division, a unit under the I&B ministry, is
the emotional history of the nation.
    "Documentaries represent the real history of India...
In order to bring more stability to a great and important
festival such as MIFF, we like to recommend to create a
position of independent artistic director or curator, so as to
acquire the best films from India and the world for the
festival, based on a wider and deeper philosophy," Karun said.
    "The organising committee (of MIFF) should be formed
at least one year in advance for better programming and for
providing better information to the public on the films on
offer.
    "One copy of the winning film should be deposited with
the National Film Archive of India," he suggested.
    Congratulating the winners, Maharashtra Minister for
Cultural Affairs and Medical Education Amit Deshmukh said the
state government is going to do everything possible in order
to promote the film sector.
    "The Union and the state governments must come
together in order to create new avenues for filmmaking, to
give infrastructure to experiment and produce films which can
cater to the world. Films are a great contributor to the
economy as well," he said.
    Chairman, National Jury, Thomas Waugh said the
National Jury had an enjoyable and challenging week.
    "Part of the challenge has been the diversity of the
films. We need to reach out to the global animation community
and get a larger representation of animation films.
    "We need to reach out further to the producers of
feature-length documentaries. We need to focus more on
independent documentary production," Waugh said.
    "We need to increase the number of selected films, so
that a broader range of films can be examined by both national
and international juries.
    "The new section on water conservation is a very
promising development. We are very proud of the strong
representation of woman directors in the National Competition
Section, Waugh added.
    Additional Secretary, Ministry of Information &
Broadcasting, Atul Kumar Tiwari, said the awards are a small
effort by the government to deepen the documentary film
culture in India. PTI JUR
RSY RSY

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)