FTII student Chidananda S Naik's film Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know won the first prize of La Cinef for Best Short at the Cannes Film Festival.
The short film is based on a popular Kannada folklore of an elderly woman stealing a rooster after which the sun does not rise.
In an interview with The New Indian Express earlier, Naik a proud Kannadiga, said he always wanted to make a local-language film. And the dream seems to have come true now as his film is making the right noises on foreign shores.
'Sunflowers were the First Ones to Know' is a 16-minute short is story of a village thrown into chaos by an elderly woman who steals a rooster. To bring the rooster back, a prophecy is invoked, sending the old lady’s family into exile.
Meanwhile, the third prize in the same category went to India's Mansi Maheshwari's for Bunnyhood.
Cannes will allocate a grant of 15,000 euros for the first prize and 11,250 euros and 7,500 euros for the second and third prizes, respectively.
La Cinef consisted of 18 student films, chosen out of 2263 entries coming from 555 film schools around the globe, Naik’s film won the first prize.