“Court” wins best film award at Mumbai Festival

PanARMENIAN.Net - “Court” has won best film, plus awards for director Chaitanya Tamhane and a special jury mention for its ensemble cast at the 16th Mumbai Film Festival’s international competition, Variety reported.

Mexican film “Gueros,” directed by Alonso Ruiz Palacios, won the grand jury prize. Martin Loizillion won actor for the French film “Fever” and Liron Ben-Shlush actress for Israeli film “Next to Her.” Tat Radcliffe won the cinematography award for U.K. film “’71”.

In the Indian categories, “Chauranga,” directed by Bikas Ranjan Mishra, won best film. “Killa,” directed by Avinash Arun, won second-best film and the special jury award for its ensemble cast. Disha Rindani’s “Mumbai 70” won the best short film award.

The festival, running Oct. 14-21, was on the brink of closure six weeks ago after a deal with previous sponsors ended but was saved thanks to financial contributions from several key industry figures. One of them, filmmaker Aamir Khan, said at the closing ceremony: “The problems it faced this year is a reminder of what this festival means to us and how much Mumbai needs to sustain it.”

During the festival, director Goran Paskaljevic (“When Day Breaks”) announced his next film “Dev Bhoomi,” an Indo-Serbian co-production starring Victor Banerjee (“A Passage to India”). The film, about a 65-year-old man who returns to India from England after 40 years when he discovers he is going blind, will shoot in the Northern Indian state of Uttarakhand from March.