The 28 Kolkata International Film Festival came to an end with two films ~ ‘Upon Entry’ and ‘The Golden Wings of Watercocks’ winning the best film award in the International competition on ‘Innovation in Moving Images’ category.
The Bangladeshi film, The Golden Wings of Watercockshas been directed and produced by Muhammad Quayum and is a movie based on the hardships of around 20 million people mainly farmers, living in the ‘haor’ region of the country. Haors are large bowlshaped shallow depressions that are located mostly in the north-eastern part of Bangladesh and frequently ruined by floods. The other movie that won the top title jointly is a Spanish film by directors Alejandro Rojas and Juan Sebastian Vasquez.
Argentina, which won the FIFA World Cup 2022, became one of the winners at the 28 KIFF with two directors, Ernesto Ardito and Virna Molina from the land of great footballers bagging the award for best director in the international competition on Innovation in Moving Images section. Nahid Hassanzadeh, director of much acclaimed Iranian film, Silent Glory, was given the Special Jury Award in the section with appreciation from the judges.
Hoping for the freedom of the women of her country while receiving the award, the filmmaker got emotional and said: “This award is for Iranian women and Iranian people who are fighting for freedom these days.” Telugu filmmaker Bhaskhar Maurya’s feature film Muthayya, was deemed as the winner of the Hiralal Sen Memorial Award on Indian Language’s Films while Deepankar Prakash bagged the best director’s award in the category. The NETPAC Award for the best film was given to ” DOV (FORTUNE) “, directed by Muhiddin Muzaffar from Tajikistan while ‘Nybreum – The Unsettled Shade’ was given the Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for best Indian documentary film.