Nirmal Chander Dandriya, Nishtha Jain’s documentaries win top awards at MIFF

Mumbai, Jun 21 (PTI) Filmmaker Nirmal Chander Dandriyal's "6-A Akash Ganga", which gives viewers a peak into the guarded world of music legend Annapurna Devi, and Nishtha Jain’s “The Golden Thread”, described both as a “homage and an observation” of the last vestiges of the industrial revolution, won top awards in the national and international documentary categories at the closing ceremony of the 2024 Mumbai International Film Festival here on Friday.

Organised biennially by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and executed by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), the festival celebrates documentaries, short fiction and animation films.

As many as 314 films from 59 different countries were showcased during the festival, which not only took place in Mumbai but also extended to cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Pune for the first time, the organisers said.

Awards were also given for best Indian documentary, short film, animation, best debut film award (sponsored by the Maharashtra government) and best student film award (sponsored by the Indian Documentary Producers Association).

The award for best Indian short fiction film (up to 30 minutes) went to "Salt" by Barkha Prashant Naik, while "Nirjara", directed and produced by Gaurav Pati, won the best Indian animation film. Joshy Benedict's "A Coconut Tree" received the Special Mention award.

The Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari Award for best debut director was awarded to Elvachisa Ch Sangma and Dipankar Das for their short film "Chanchisoa (Expectation)". Sreemoyee Singh won the Best Student Film award for the film "And, Towards Happy Alleys". Edmond Ranson's "Life in Loom" was awarded the best short film award on the theme of "India in Amrit Kaal".

In the technical awards, Suraj Thakur won the best cinematographer for "Entangled"; Irene Dhar Mallik and Anuja Thakkar bagged the best editor award for "From the Shadows" and Abhijeet Sarkar received the best sound designer award for "Dhara Ka Tem (Time for Milking)".

In the international category, Estonian film “Sour Milk” won the award for best short fiction film, while Poland’s “Zima” was adjudged the best animation film.

The Promod Pati Award for the most innovative experimental film (to the director) went to Japan’s Liam Lopinto for “The Old and Young Crow”.

“The Golden Thread” also won the award for best sound designer for Niraj Gera while the best editor award went to Vignesh Kumulai for the Indian film “Karparaa”. Babin Dulal won the best cinematographer award for Nepal’s “Dhorpatan” while the American film “Lovely Jackson”, by Matt Waldeck, was given a special jury mention.

The event was attended by Sudhir Mungantiwar, minister of cultural affairs in the Maharashtra government, actors Chhaya Kadam, Shekhar Suman, Akshay Oberoi, Vivek Vaswani and Poonam Dhillon. PTI COR RB NB NB