competition sectionKolkata, Nov 17 (PTI) French film 'Los Perros' got thebest film award in the 'International Competition InnovationIn Moving Images' category at the 23rd Kolkata InternationalFilm Festival here today.
The Best Director award in the same category went toAsa Helga Hjorleifsdottir of Iceland for the film 'Swan'.
The prize money for best film and best director wereRs 51 lakh and Rs 21 lakh respectively, the organisers said.
'Los Perros' is directed by Marcela Said, one of themost respected contemporary film makers whose films have beenawarded in many important festivals.
Handing over the best film award to the French guestsat a glittering function tonight, veteran actor BiswajitChatterjee said, "This film festival is going bigger everyyear and I think the prize money in best film category is thehighest in the country."The Jury Special Mention award on Innovation in MovingImages section jointly went to Iran's 'Kupal' directed byKazem Mollaie and Polish film 'Birds Are Singing in Kigali'.
In the Asian Select (Netpack award), Nepalese film'Goodbye Kathmandu' by Nabin Subba won the honours as the bestfilm.
In the Competition on Indian Language section, theHiralal Sen Memorial Award, instituted in the death centenaryof one of India's first film makers, was given to Dr BijukumarDamodaran for his film the 'Sound of Silence' with a citationand prize money of Rs 5 lakh.
The Jury Special Mention Award in the section went toPathumma directed by Panchakshari.
In the short films category, 'Chahat Ke Gubbare' byAmritanshu got the best short film honour.
In the documentary films section, 'Mrityubhoj' (TheDeath feast) by Akanksha Sood got the coveted Golden RoyalBengal Tiger trophy and an award money of Rs 1 lakh.
West Bengal Panchayat and Rural Development MinisterSubrata Mukherjee, who handed over two awards, said thefestival has truly assumed global proportions with theparticipation of international film makers.
Welcoming the delegates, West Bengal Youth Affairs andSports Minister, Arup Biswas said, "KIFF is another featherin cap for the state after the Durga Puja Carnival and U-17FIFA World Cup.""And we have taken the film festival to the generalpublic by spreading the venues across the city unlike inpre-2011 when it was confined for the select people," he said.
Minister of State for Information and CulturalAffairs, Indranil Sen also said the 23rd KIFF has turned outto be one of the important film events in the world.
KIFF Director Yadav Mondal said several contemporaryworks by renowned and upcoming filmmakers of the country andabroad were screened at KIFF this year and the preparationshave already begun for a bigger show next year in terms ofquality of films representing different regions.
Delegates from more than 20 countries attended theeight-day festival, where 143 films from India and abroad werescreened between November 10 and 17. PTI SUSRG.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.