Ukranian war drama Donbass won the Golden Peacock for Best Film at the International Film Festival of India (November 20 to 28), while Malayalam filmmaker Lijo Jose Pellissery took home the Silver Peacock for best director for his satire Ee. Ma. Yau. The winners were announced at the event’s closing ceremony in Panaji, Goa, on Wednesday.
Sergei Loznitsa’s Donbass is Ukraine’s Best Foreign Language Film entry for the upcoming Academy Awards. The film explores propaganda and fake news during the 2014-’15 conflict between Ukrainian nationalists and supporters of pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine. The film won Loznitsa the Un Certain Regard award for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
The Silver Peacock award for best actor went to Chemban Vinod for Ee. Ma. Yau. Set in coastal Kochi, the film traces a man’s quest to give his father a grand funeral. Anastasia Pustovit won the Silver Peacock (best actress) for the Ukranian-Polish film When Trees Fall, about a teenager who faces her family’s wrath when she falls in love with a criminal.
The Silver Peacock Special Jury Award went to Milko Lazarov’s German drama Aga, about an ageing couple from Siberia’s indigenous Yakut community who are searching for their lost daughter. Alberto “Treb” Monteras II’s Philippine drama Respeto won the Centenary Award for Best Debut Film.
Praveen Morchhale won the ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Medal for his 2017 film Walking With The Wind, about a 10-year-old boy’s seven-km journey through the Himalayas to fix his friend’s broken chair.
Veteran Hindi screenwriter Salim Khan (Sholay, Deewar, Don) was given the Indian Film Personality award for his contribution to cinema.