The Mumbai International Film Festival, which kicked off on January 28, concluded on February 4 with the most-awaited part of the event: the awards. Abhay Kumar’s Placebo won three awards, while Farida Pacha’s My Name is Salt bagged two. The juries also showered their love on Hardik Mehta’s short film Famous in Ahmedabad, which explores the craze for kite-flying through the eyes of a young school drop-out. Famous in Ahmedabad won awards for best editing (shared with Renjith Kuzhur’s 18 Feet) and best documentary (upto 60 minutes).
Phum Shang won the Golden Conch Award for the Best Documentary Film (upto 60 minutes) in the National Competition. Haobam Paban Kumar’s documentary explores the stand-off between the government and the fisherfolk that have set up rickety homes on Manipur’s Loktak Lake. Accused of polluting the waters, the fisherfolk put up a spirited defence.
In the absence of a runner-up category (previously called the Silver Conch), Farida Pacha’s brilliant My Name is Salt had to tie for Best Documentary in the International Competition category (above 60 minutes) with Abhay Kumar’s Placebo. My Name is Salt examines a year in the life of a family that produces salt out of the stubborn earth in Kutch. Lutz Konnermann’s stunning cinematography also bagged him a gong.
Abhay Kumar’s Placebo, an expose of the pressures faced by medical college students, charmed the international jury twice. Apart from tying with My Name is Salt, Placebo won the best editing award (given to Abhay Kumar and Archana Phadke) as well as the Pramod Pati Award for the Most Innovative Film.
Fireflies in the Abyss, Chandrashekhar Reddy’s investigative documentary on the use of child labour in the mining industry in Manipur, also bagged two awards. Nominated in the national competition (above 60 minutes), the film topped the category and shared the award for best cinematography with Letter from Korlai.
The award for the best short film fiction (upto 45 mins) was split between Payal Kapadia’s The Last Mango Before the Monsoon and Satindar Singh Bedi’s Alice. The Last Mango Before the Monsoon also shared the best editing prize in the same category (for Kapadia and Ranbir Das). Alice picked up a second prize too, for cinematography.
K Mark Swer was named best sound recordist for Tarun Bhartiya’s The Brief Life of Insects. The Animation award in the International Competition section was given to Debanjan Nandy’s Chhaya, the touching tale of a widower’s struggle to overcome memories of his dead wife. Niranjan Kumar’s Kujur’s fictional short film Going Home, about an inter-faith romance in a tribal community in Jharkhand, was declared the best student film (Kujur studies at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute). The Queen of Silence, Agnieszka Zwiefka’s documentary about a deaf Roma girl’s attempts to cope with her impoverished conditions, picked up an award for best sound recording in the International Competition (above 60 minutes) category. The Dadasaheb Phalke award for the best debutant director went to Nitesh Anjan’s Far From Home.
There was more sharing in the international competition category of short fiction (upto 45 minutes): the prizes were split between Debashish Makhija’s Agli Baar and Ingo Putze’s Solo Finale. The organisers have promised to make the awards an annual rather than a biannual affair, which means that documentary filmmakers might not have to wait till 2018 for their next shot at glory.