PANAJI: The 54th International Film Festival of India, Goa, came to a close amid plenty of cheering. Awards were very many and spanned international and Indian talent. While Persian film, Endless Borders, was the recipient of the Golden Peacock for Best Film award, Bulgarian director Stephan Komandarev won the Silver Peacock for his film, Blaga’s Lessons.
The Best Actor and Actress awards went to Pouria Rahimi Sam (Endless Borders) and Melanie Thierry (Party of Fools) respectively, but the loudest cheers were for Michael Douglas, the recipient of the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award, who delivered his acceptance speech in the presence of wife, Catherine Zeta Jones.
“I am grateful to all my mentors, all the technicians who have been a part of my 55-year-old career. I dedicate this award to my father, Kirk Douglas, who was an icon to the public, but was always a father to me,” he said. Catherine, who was requested to speak on the occasion, said, “I just wanted to be his wife today, and didn’t expect to come on stage for a speech. It’s an honour to return to India for this recognition.”
Goa CM Pramod Sawant expressed his pleasure at the growth of IFFI. “I’m overwhelmed by the response. Goa has truly become a hub of cinematic excellence,” he said. Also in attendance was Rishab Shetty, whose film, Kantara, was played in IFFI, and won the Special Jury Award. “The culture that you see in the film… I belong to it. The rituals that you see are all from my village. We worship that god. We never expected that a film about our culture, our god, would take us this far,” he said. More applause followed when a teaser of his upcoming prequel, Kantara: A Legend Chapter 1, was screened at the event.
It was fascinating to see this festival that screened films from 78 countries, ending, as Ayushmann Khurrana pointed out that he didn’t much care for international laurels. “How local, how rooted our stories are, determines how global they get. Rishab Shetty is an inspiration for me,” he said. Earlier in the ceremony, the international jury chairperson, Shekar Kapur, said something similar: “With all the wars going, all the conflicts, it’s important to tell our stories. Stories are about discovering who we are, about sharing that with others.”
Everyone’s favourite portion of the ceremony came when officers of the Himachal police department performed a mini-concert, belting out patriotic songs with the vocal control of professional musicians. The humanity of these cops came through as they sang and danced in uniform, and that’s its own commentary on the power of art on the final day of this film festival.