Indian director wins Sundance Institute award

Los Angeles: Indian director Neeraj Ghaywan was handed over the 2014 Sundance Institute/Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award in Park City, Utah, US for his film `Fly Away Solo`.

He received the award Tuesday night. Ghaywan, who has worked with filmmaker Anurag Kashyap`s "Gangs of Wasseypur" and as the second unit director on "Ugly", made "Fly Away Solo" based on four lives - a lower caste boy hopelessly in love, a daughter torn with guilt, a father sinking in greed and a spirited kid craving for a family. The movie focuses on how their lives intersect along the Ganges river and all of them yearn to escape the constrictions of a small town. The other winners at the event were Hong Khaou for "Monsoon`, Tobias Lindholm for "A War" and Ashlee Page for "Archive". The four filmmakers will receive a cash award of $10,000, attendance at the Sundance Film Festival for targeted industry and creative meetings, year-round mentoring from Institute staff and creative advisors, eligibility to participate in a Sundance Institute Lab and ongoing creative and strategic support from Sundance Institute`s Feature Film Program. The awards were presented by Rohit Khattar, chairman, Mumbai Mantra, Michelle Satter, founding director, Feature Film Program, Sundance Institute and Paul Federbush, international director, Feature Film Program, Sundance Institute. "Sundance Institute shares with Mahindra Group a joint global commitment to nurturing new artists," Sundance Institute president and founder Robert Redford said in a statement. Currently in its fourth year, the Sundance Institute/ Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award is part of a collaboration that exemplifies a commitment to and support of world cinema by Indian industrial conglomerate Mahindra Group and the nonprofit Sundance Institute.