Closing ceremony of KIFF: Bulgarian movie bags Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for best film

KOLKATA: Bulgarian filmmaker Milko Lazarov’s ‘Tarika’ bagged the Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for Best Film on the closing day at the 30th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) on Wednesday. Along with the best film award in the International Competition in Innovation in Moving Images category, Lazarov also seized a cash prize worth Rs 51 lakh – the highest given by any film festival worldwide — at the closing ceremony of KIFF at Rabindra Sadan.

‘Tarika’ also bagged the FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics ) Award for best film in the International Competition on Innovation in Moving Images. This was introduced for the first time at the 30th KIFF.

Panama’s filmmaker Ana Endara took home the Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for Best Director at the festival for her film ‘Beloved Tropic’. She received a cash prize worth Rs 21 lakh apart from the trophy and certificate.

The week-long festival’s Special Jury Award for International Competition: Innovation in Moving Images was presented to Mexican director Alejandro Gerber Bicecci’s ‘Dead Man’s Switch.’ The Bengali Panorama section, which went competitive last year, impressed the audiences with its selection of films. Abhijit Chowdhury’s ‘Dhrubor Aschorjo Jibon’ received the Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for Best Bengali film. The cash prize accompanying the trophy and certificate amounted to Rs 7.5 lakh.

In the Asian Select section, the NETPAC Award for Best Film was granted to Ranajit Ray’s ‘Putulnama’. Director Dipanjan Chowdhury’s ‘Bhabotosher Karkhana’ won the Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for best Indian documentary film.

The makers received a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh alongside the certificate and award. The young team of ‘Nukkad Natak’ with Tanmaya Shekhar as the director recieved the Special Jury Mention for Indian Language Films. 179 films from 29 countries were screened at the festival, which started on December 4.