The maiden edition of Pondicherry International Film Festival 2018 culminated with a jubilant award and closing ceremony on Sunday at Alliance Francaise de Pondicherry Auditorium, Puducherry.
Present at the occasion, CM of Puducherry, V. Narayanasamy reiterated full support by Puducherry Government to Pondicherry International Film Festival to make it a bigger annual affair from next year.
The best feature film of the night won by Ektara Colectove for their masterpiece 'Turup' which was a tie with 'To Let'. 'Turup' is based on the game chess, which is a popular pastime in neighbourhood, with roadside games bringing together men, to challenge each other in friendly and sometimes unfriendly matches.
But for some, the pawns include morality and religion causing tensions to erupt. On the other hand, 'To Let' is based on the story of a couple with a child which is set in 2007 in Chennai which is experiencing a real estate boom as a result of an exponential development of the IT sector.
The biggest winners of the night were 'To Let' and 'Turup' as the former won Best Feature Film, Best Editing (Feature) and Best Director (Feature); whereas TURUP bagged the Best Feature Film, Best Screenplay (Feature) and Best Cinematography (Feature) award.
Apart from that, Sahar Soleimani from Iran won the Best Short Fiction Film category for Isolated Crows of Solitude, whereas Linda Dombrovszky of Hungary bagged the Special Jury Award for Cubeman. The award for Best Short Animation Film was bestowed upon Numan Ayaz of Turkey for Blue Tomorrow.
Chief Minsiter of Puducherry V. Narayanasamy handed over the Best Feature Film Award to Chezhyian for 'To Let' while Actor Adil Hussain presented the Best Editing (Feature) to Chezhiyan who accepted it on behalf of A. Sreekar Prasad for 'To Let'.
The category of awards at the festival included: Best Short Fiction Film, Short Fiction - Special Jury Award, Best Short Animation Film, Best Feature Film, Best Director (Feature), Best Screenplay, Best Editing (Feature), Best Cinematography (Feature) and Best Documentary.
A visibly ecstatic Abhishek Sinha, Founder and CEO, Pickurflick commented, "We are honoured and humbled to see the kind of response we have got from our patrons and fans. The maiden edition of PIFF witnessed a record turn-out and cine buffs witnessed some of the gems of world cinema against the serene backdrop of Pondicherry."
"We're really thankful to the Chief Minister of Puducherry V. Narayanasamy along with the Puducherry Tourism department, Alliance Francaise de Pondicherry & French Consulate for their support to make this festival a grand success," added Abhishek Sinha.
The five-day long festival was inaugurated by Chief Minister of Puducherry V. Narayanasamy on 26th September at Alliance Française de Pondichery followed by screening of National Award Winner for Best Tamil Film (2018) 'To Let' by Chezhyian. The movies were screened across Puducherry at multiple locations: Alliance Française de Pondichery, Multimedia Center Auditorium in association with Cinema Paradiso (Auroville) & Aurofilm (Auroville), and J N Auditorium, Pondicherry University.
The opening night of the festival was hosted at the French Consulate Pondicherry on 25th Sept in the presence of French Consulate General Catherine Suard with a special screening of Felicite by Alain Gomis winner of Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at Berlinale 2017.
"The response the first edition of the film festival has received from cineastes in Pondicherry augurs well for the future, It gives us confidence that PIFF is here to stay. The event will be back in this lovely city next year, bigger and brighter," said Saibal Chatterjee, Festival Director.
The Festival's competitions featured a diverse slate of 5 animation films, 9 Feature Films, 9 Documentary and 7 Short Films, 15 Drama, 1 Thriller, 1 Fantasy family and 1 Horror representing 16 countries.
PIFF closed with jam up session by Jerry Silvester Vincent, Music Producer of AR Rahman and crew. He also played complete original soundtrack (8 themes and a song) of an awards nominee in the short film category - Asmad (Me). The jam up session was followed by a dance performance by Poojarini Chowdhury's Red Feet Dance Studio, a Pondicherry based dance troupe.
The complete list of winners is out and it will definitely put a smile on the faces of fans. Here is the complete list of winners:
Best Short Fiction Film: Isolated Crows of Solitude (Iran) by Sahar Soleimani, Short Fiction: Special Jury Award: Cubeman (Hungary) by Linda Dombrovszky, Best Short Animation Film: Blue Tomorrow (Turkey) by Numan Ayaz, Best Feature Film: Turup by Ektara Collective, Best Feature Film: 'To Let' by Chezhiyan, Best Director (Feature): Chezhiyan for TO LET, Best Screenplay (Feature): Turup by Maheen Mirza & Rinchin, Best Editing (Feature): 'To Let' by A. Sreekar Prasad, Best Cinematography (Feature): Turup by Maheen Mirza, Best Documentary: Machines by Rahul Jain.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)