Curtains drawn on 12th International Film Festival in Pune

Pune: The 12th edition of Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) has ended.

Under the Best International Feature Film category, Joanna Kos-Krauze directed `Papusza` from Poland won the award. A cash prize of rupees one million was given to the director and producer Lambros Ziotas. On receiving the award, Joanna called the film fest a best platform for the cinema lovers. "We are just happy. Pune was always a happy festival for us. A few years ago our actress was awarded here and we are always feeling to give our movie because Pune is a very special Film Festival. It is not like to be by the quality of the movies, the jury, the selection committee is very good and it is very good for the cinema lovers," she said. Marathi film `Fandry`, directed by Nagraj Manjule, won the Government of Maharashtra "Sant Tukaram" Best International Marathi Film award at the closing ceremony of the event. `Fandry` also grabbed four other awards in the categories of Best Marathi Film director, actor, screenplay and cinematographer and also received audience award for best Marathi competition film. The award was accompanied by a cash prize of Rs.500,000. Manjule, the director of the award-winning film, said he expected his film only to bag an audience choice award. "I am really happy. I thought that we will receive some award and we will at least bag an audience choice award, but we won total five awards and I am really happy that the actor of the film, Somnath was awarded," he said. The Special Jury award was given to `A Touch of Sin` (China/Japan) produced by Shozo Ichiyama and directed by Jia Zhang-ke. Among the students` awards, `Devil In The Black Stone` bagged the best film, whereas the best director award was received by Arvind Kuplikar for `Ammortha`. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan inaugurated the event on January 9, where he mentioned that PIFF would get the status of a `state film festival`. Veteran Bollywood actor Vinod Khanna and National Award-winning filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan were awarded for contribution to Indian cinema on the opening day of film festival. Khanna, an actor-turned politician, debuted in 1968 as a villain and is known for his performances in films like, `Purab aur Paschim`, `Sachaa Jhutha`, `Aan Milo Sajna` and `Muqaddar Ka Sikandar`. The Pune International Film festival screened 200 films over 300 shows across seven venues in the city.