Assamese film ‘Bridge’ by Kripal Kalita has won the Special Jury Mention Award at the 51st edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) which concluded in Goa on January 24.
Bridge becomes the second Assamese film after ‘Adajya’ to win an award at the IFFI.
Set in Assam, the film is a colourful canvas of an unusual struggle of a teenage girl residing along the bank of a tributary of the mighty Brahmaputra. People living in the bank of rivers in Assam have to face severe problems during the floods every year. Lakhs of people are used to live with this struggle across the state.
“Through this film, an attempt has been made to draw the attention towards the agony of the people losing everything every year and the daily troubles and hindrances faced in the development of the helpless, poor, honest and simple people residing in the interior parts of the green valley,” Kalita said about his film.
This film portrays the story of Jonaki, a strong and independent woman, who endures a lot in her life at a very young age. Her home village is ravaged by floods every year and the lack of a bridge makes the entire village suffer. Despite multiple attempts and prayers, their problem never gets solved. However, they start from scratch every year with a new ray of hope.
Apart from that, the epic World War II film ‘Into the Darkness’ (De forbandede år) which portrays the story of a Danish electronics factory owner who is forced to produce for the occupying Nazi forces, has won the coveted Golden Peacock Award. The Golden Peacock Award consists of a cash prize of Rs 40 lakhs to be shared equally between director Anders Refn and producer Lene Børglum, both of whom have also been presented with a certificate each as well.
The Silver Peacock for the best director went to Taiwanese director, writer and producer Chen-Nien Ko, for her 2020 Mandarin drama film ‘The Silent Forest’.
The Silver Peacock for best actor – male has been awarded to 17-year-old Tzu-Chuan Liu. The Silver Peacock for best actor – female has been awarded to Polish actor Zofia Stafiej, for her role in Piotr Domalewski’s ‘I Never Cry’ (Jak najdalej stad).
The award for best debut director has been presented to Brazilian director Cássio Pereira dos Santos, for his 2020 Portugese film ‘Valentina’, an eponymous film which tells the story of a 17-year-old transgender Brazilian girl, whose sole aim is to lead a normal life with her mother.
The prestigious ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Award, given to a film that best reflects Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals of peace, tolerance and non-violence, has been awarded to Ameen Nayfeh’s 2020 Arabic film 200 ‘Meters’. The Award consists of a certificate and a medal and is given as part of IFFI’s collaboration with the International Council for Film, Television and Audiovisual Communication (ICFT) Paris.
The awards have been decided by the IFFI 51 International Jury comprising eminent filmmakers from across the world, with Argentine director Pablo Cesar as chairman. Prasanna Vithanage (Sri Lanka), Abu Bakr Shawky (Austria), Priyadarshan (India) and Rubaiyat Hossain (Bangladesh) were the other members of the jury.
