MUMBAI: Brazilian filmmaker Barbara Paz’s “Babenco: Tell Me When I Die” hasbagged the prestigious Golden Conch Award for Best Documentary Film at the 16th edition of the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) that concluded on Monday.
At the closing ceremony of the festival that began on January 28, “Sairat” director Nagraj Manjules “Paavsacha Nibandh” (An Essay of Rain) received the Silver Conch for Best Short Fiction Film.
“Babenco: Tell Me When I Die” a tender immersion into the life of the South American filmmaker and Paz’s late life partner Hector Babenco got the highest honour for its intimate and celebratory portrayal of the Brazilian film director and his reflections of life and death.
Receiving the award on behalf of the director, Consul General of Brazil Guilherme Patriota read out a written message from Paz which said winning the award fills her with huge emotion.
“‘Babenco’ is a film about love, the love of cinema, the love of life. It is a film about how to say farewell to life by doing what you love, filming till the last. Brazil thanks you for this prize. Director Babenca is dancing in Paradise,” the letter read.
Manjule’s film tells the story of a ten-year-old boy who writes an essay on rain for a school assignment.
The film bagged the honour for its evocation of a grim social reality through the metaphor of rain that transforms into an unwritten essay,” a statement read.
TheSilver Conch Award for the Best Animation Film has been shared by two films the German film “Portrait of Suzanne”, directed by Izabela Plucinska, and the Indian film “Panangaatu Nari” (The Fox of the Palmgrove) by Divakar SK.
Speaking on the occasion, Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari highlighted the important role of documentary films and exhorted filmmakers to improve public awareness and sensitivity towards societal and humanitarian issues, so as to inculcate higher values and inspire actions among people.
Bhagat said this will make such films timeless and remembered and lived by generations to come.
Chairman, International Jury, Shaji N Karun, said for filmmakers, Films Division, a unit under the I&B ministry, is the emotional history of the nation.
“Documentaries represent the real history of India…
In order to bring more stability to a great and important festival such as MIFF, we like to recommend to create a position of independent artistic director or curator, so as to acquire the best films from India and the world for the festival, based on a wider and deeper philosophy,” Karun said.
“The organising committee (of MIFF) should be formed at least one year in advance for better programming and for providing better information to the public on the films on offer.
“One copy of the winning film should be deposited with the National Film Archive of India,” he suggested.
Congratulating the winners, Maharashtra Minister for Cultural Affairs and Medical Education Amit Deshmukh said the state government is going to do everything possible in order to promote the film sector.
“The Union and the state governments must come together in order to create new avenues for filmmaking, to give infrastructure to experiment and produce films which can cater to the world. Films are a great contributor to the economy as well,” he said.
Chairman, National Jury, Thomas Waugh said the National Jury had an enjoyable and challenging week.
“Part of the challenge has been the diversity of the films. We need to reach out to the global animation community and get a larger representation of animation films.
“We need to reach out further to the producers of feature-length documentaries. We need to focus more on independent documentary production,” Waugh said.
“We need to increase the number of selected films, so that a broader range of films can be examined by both national and international juries.
“The new section on water conservation is a very promising development. We are very proud of the strong representation of woman directors in the National Competition Section, Waugh added.
Additional Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Atul Kumar Tiwari, said the awards are a small effort by the government to deepen the documentary film culture in India. PTI
