Actress Konkona Sen Sharma was feted with the Mastercard’s Best Indian female filmmaker award for her debut directorial venture “A Death in the Gunj” at the closing ceremony of the 18th Jio MAMI Mumbai International Film Festival.
The drama thriller was also the opening film of the eight-day long festival.
Oxfam India – Best Film on Gender Equality was awarded to “Lipstick Under My Burkha”.
The Alankrita Shrivastava directed film stars Konkona along with Ratna Pathak, Aahana Kumar and others.
In India Gold category, the top prize, called Golden Gateway, went to “Lady of the Lake”. Its makers will receive Rs 25 lakh as cash prize.
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While, the Silver Gateway went to “The Narrow Path”, helmed by Satish and Santosh Babusenan. They will be given Rs 15 lakh.
The Special jury prize went to “The Hidden Corner”, which has been directed by Aichemh Jai Dohutia.
In the International competition category, the special jury prize went to “Everything else” by Nataloa Almada, while “Diamond Island” received the Golden Gateway award.
“Godless”, helmed by Ralitza Petrov, got the Silver Gateway prize.
The Dimensions Mumbai section gave away awards– Golden Gateway for “Mumbai Mahuwa” by Santosh Kamble, Silver Gateway for “Ajeeb Dastan Hai Yeh” and Special mention for “Bombai”.
“The Salesman” by Asghar Farhadi won the Audience choice award.
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American drama film “Manchester by the Sea”, directed by Kenneth Lonergan, closed the fest, which screened 175 movies, including features, documentaries and shorts from 54 countries.
The event, which took place at Rang Mandir, Bandra, saw the presence of Bollywood celebrities, including Kabir Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Richa Chadha, Zoya Akhtar, Abhay Deol, Neha Dhupia, Kunal Kapoor, Anurag Kashyap, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sonam Kapoorm Shakun Batra and Ayan Mukherjee.
Superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s unreleased film “Ahmak”,
Priyanka Chopra’s maiden production “Ventilator” and Vikramaditya Motwane’s “Trapped” were among the movies showcased at the festival.
The festival’s opening ceremony honoured veteran director-writer Sai Paranjpye, who is known for helming popular films like “Sparsh” and “Chashme Buddoor”, with Indian Excellence in Cinema Award.
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While acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke, credited with movies likes “Still Life” and “The World”, became the recipient of the International Excellence in Cinema Award at the Festival.
Renowned American director Cary Fukunaga also attended the festival where he conducted a masterclass giving insight into his craft, choices and challenges as a filmmaker.