Kazakh film bags Golden Peacock Award; IFFI ends

Panaji, Dec 02: `Tulpan`, a Kazakhstan film produced along with Germany, Switzerland, Russia and Poland, won the Golden Peacock Award and a cash prize of Rs 40 lakh as the curtains came down on the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) here today.Directed by Sergei Dvortsevoy, the film is based on the life of a Kazakh youth who, after completing his naval service, settles in the Central Asian republic which was once part of the Soviet Union. The movie is Kazakhstan`s official entry for the Best Foreign Film at the 81th Academy Awards.

Dvortsevoy was also honoured with Most Promising Director`s Award. The special jury award, the Silver Peacock, and a cash prize of Rs 15 lakh, went to Malini Fonseka, actress of Sri Lankan film `Akasa Kusum` (Flowers of the Sky). The winners were chosen from 15 films from Asian, Asia Pacific and Latin American countries, including Indian entries `Kanchivara` (Tamil) by Priyadarshan and `Mahasatta` (Marathi) by Ramesh More. The jury was headed by well-known Hong Kong-based South Korean filmmaker Peter Chan. Venice Film Festival Director Marco Muller, Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz, Iranian actress and director Niki Karimi and Indian actress Tabu were members of the jury. About 225 films from 40 countries were screened during the festival that started on November 22. Over 6,000 delegates from all over the world attended the 10-day festival. Noted Actor Kamal Hassan was the chief guest at the closing ceremony which was attended by Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat among other dignitaries. The prize money for the Golden Peacock for Best Film was substantially hiked to Rs 40 lakh from Rs 10 lakh from this year. The Silver Peacock prize money has been increased from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh. Last year, the best film award had gone to director Lin Chih Ju for the Taiwanese film `The Wall` while the most promising director award was given to Pongpat Wachirabunjong for the Thai film `Khaw Hai Rak Johg Jaroen` (Me Myself). The special jury award was shared by two film personalities. Golam Rabanny Biplab for the Bangladeshi film `Swopnodanay` (On the Wings of Dreams) and child artist Julia Urbini for her performance in the Mexican film `Mas Que A Nada En El Mundo` (More than Anything in the World). They were presented with silver peacock medal, a cash prize of Rs 2.50 lakh and a certificate each. Bureau Report