Filmmakers Aparna Sen and Nandita Das have been awarded the Icon Award at this 12 months’s London Indian Film Festival for his or her contribution to Indian and international cinema.
Running over two weeks and throughout 4 cities of London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, the London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) concluded final week with a collection of screenings, in dialog periods, cinema discussions and an awards ceremony.
“It was a rare honour and pleasure to receive the Icon Award from LIFF,” mentioned Sen, whose newest movie The Rapist was amongst this 12 months’s European premiere highlights on the pageant.
“Making films on my own terms without commercial compromise for 40 years has often seemed a thankless job, but now, after the Icon Award, I feel vindicated. Thank you LIFF for continuing to believe in meaningful cinema,” she mentioned.
Das, who joined Sen and actor daughter Konkona Sen Sharma for a particular cinematic dialog as a part of the LIFF 2022 line-up, mentioned she was grateful for her Icon Award.
“I have seen LIFF grow from strength to strength and I am touched by their appreciation of my choices and my work. It means a lot to me,” she mentioned.
Director Pan Nalin’s poignant ode to cinema Chhello Show (Last Film Show) was the winner of this 12 months’s audience-voted Best Film Award.
“This is truly inspiring, uplifting, and enlightening. As a filmmaker the only dream I cherish is to be loved by the audience,” mentioned Nalin, behind different award-winning movies corresponding to ‘Samsara’ and ‘Valley of the Flowers’.
In the annual Satayjit Ray quick movie class Jaagran, co-directed by Ritviq Joshi and Hardik Sadhwani, gained the LIFF Jury Prize.
The judges awarded the movie for its “engaging, relatable and witty exploration of a serious issue everyone can identify with” and located it “socially and politically astute, brilliantly acted and hilariously funny.” Jaagran was an over-ambitious 20-page dream that we noticed collectively. Miraculously, we put collectively an skilled workforce who believed within the script and helped us study and switch our dream into actuality,” mentioned Joshi and Sadhwani.
“Today, after getting the honour of receiving an award with Satyajit Ray’s name on it, we’re back to square one. We’re back in a dream. Only this time, it’s not limited to the two of us. This one belongs to 20 more dreamers,” they mentioned.
The awards additionally included an Outstanding Achievement Award for Taapsee Pannu for her hard-hitting roles, together with within the new Anurag Kashyap movie Dobaaraa which opened the pageant.
After a swap to digital and hybrid fashions over the COVID pandemic lockdowns, the annual pageant celebrating South Asian cinema returned to the cinemas this 12 months.
“We awarded National Lottery funding through the BFI [British Film Institute] Audience Fund to enable the festival to have a wider footprint across the UK and to raise the profile of South Asian cinema, and it is brilliant to see it achieve that and more,” mentioned Ben Luxford, BFI’s Head of UK Audiences.
LIFF director Cary Sawhney mentioned the pageant’s drive to return absolutely to cinemas throughout the UK attracted report audiences.
“Certain cinemas, such as the BFI Southbank, described the festival as their best seller over the period. There is clearly an appetite to return to the big screen, especially with a festival cocktail of high-quality premieres with frequent guest appearances,” he mentioned.
“The creative and arts sectors and cities, particularly London, have been disastrously and disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and government and other restrictions on mobility of communal gatherings. The importance of sharing experiences, human contact and the need to witness diversity have all been highlighted in recent times,” added Tony Matharu, patron of the pageant and chairman of the title sponsor Blue Orchid Hotels.
