The 17th Bengaluru International Film Festival concluded on Friday, with Japan’s ‘The Last Land’, the Marathi films ‘Sabar Bonda’ and ‘Vanya’ winning the Best Film awards in the Asian, Indian and Kannada sections of the festival respectively.
Along with trophies, a cash prize of ₹10 lakh was awarded to the Best Film winners. The second and third Best Film award winners were honoured with cash prizes of ₹5 lakh and ₹2 lakh respectively.
In the Asian Cinema section, a total of 15 films competed for awards this year. Among them, Japan’s ‘The Last Land’ won the Best Film award, while India’s ‘Shape of Momo’ and Japan’s ‘The Deepest Space in US’ received the second and third Best Film awards respectively. The Philippines’ ‘Republic of Piplipinas’ received the Jury Special Mention.
In the Indian (Chitrabharati) section, the Marathi film ‘Sabar Bonda’ won the Best Film award, while the Malayalam films ‘Moham’ and ‘Kaadu’ won the second and third Best Film awards respectively. The Marathi film ‘Gondal’ received the FIPRESCI award, while the Malayalam film ‘Circuit’ received the Jury Special Mention.
In the Kannada Competition section, 14 films competed this year, among which ‘Vanya’ won the Best Film award. ‘Nam Saali’ and ‘Raavana Rajyadalli Navadampatigalu’ were selected as the second and third Best Films respectively, while ‘Hakkigagi’ received the NETPAC Jury Award. The films ‘Mrigatrishna’ and ‘Four by Four’ received Jury Special Mentions.
At this festival, over 300 outstanding films from around 70 countries, including films that had participated in prestigious international film festivals, were screened. The festival is organised every year with a meaningful theme, and this year it was celebrated with the theme line ‘Women’s Sensibility, the Voice of Equality’, inspired by the famous line ‘Stree Endare Ashthe Saake’ from a renowned poem by Rashtrakavi Dr. G. S. Shivarudrappa.
