Umesh Kulkarni`s ‘Vihir’ rated ‘Best Picture’ at New York festival

New York: Pune filmmaker Umesh Kulkarni`s ‘Vihir’, the story of two adolescent boys standing on the crossroads of life, has won the ‘Best Picture’ award at the Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council (MIAAC) Film Festival.

The five-day festival of features, shorts, and documentary screenings and ‘Bhumika: The Roles of Smita Patil,’ a retrospective of the late actress` films, in partnership with the Film Society at Lincoln Centre, came to a close last Sunday. The longest-running, most prestigious Indian film festival in the US recognized noteworthy directing, writing, and acting in the following categories: * Best Picture – ‘Vihir’ * Best Actor - Ajay Naidu, ‘Ashes’ * Best Actress - Seema Biswas, ‘Cooking with Stella’ * Best Director - Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, ‘Shor’ * Best Screenplay - Rituparno Ghosh, ‘Memories in March’ * Best Documentary – ‘Ganesh, Boy Wonder,’ Director Srinivas Krishna * Best Short Film – ‘Charulata.A Sequel.of the Life Untold!’ Director Sangeeta Padmanabhan * NYU @ MIAAC: Mobile Bollywood - Directors: Anna South, Casey Knight, and Raymond Wei * Special Achievement Award for Significant Contribution to the Globalisation of Indian Music - presented to Oscar and Grammy-award winning composer A.R. Rahman and accepted by director Mani Ratnam. The Indo-American Arts Council is a registered not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to showcasing, building awareness, and celebrating artists of Indian origin in the performing, visual and literary arts. The Film Society of Lincoln Centre was founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, to recognize and support new directors, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility and understanding of film. IANS