Filmmaker Raam Reddy’s Kannada film Thithi won the Best Film award at the 1st BRICS Film Festival in New Delhi on 6 September. The award was presented by the Union of Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu at the festival’s closing ceremony.
Thithi, a story set in a remote village in Karnataka, is about how three generations of sons react to the death of Century Gowda, their 101-year-old grandfather. Thithi has been winning accolades ever since its release earlier this year.
The film, with a cast comprising of non-professional actors from Mandya in Karnataka, was honoured at numerous film festivals including the 68th Locarno International Film Festival, Marrakech International Film Festival, 19th Shanghai International Film Festival, and the 63rd National Film Awards. Thithi also bagged the First Best Film, Best Supporting Actress and Best Dialogue awards at the 2016 Karnataka State Film Awards.
Read: Our Thithi review
Other winners from the BRICS Film Festival include South African actor Thabo Rametsi who won the Best Actor (Male) award for his role in Kalushi, Russian actress Yulia Peresild was given the Best Actor (Female) award for her film The Battle for Sevastopol and Huo Jianqi from China won the Best Director award for his Indo-Chinese co-production film Xuan Zang.
The film festival, as part of the special events planned prior to the 8th BRICS Summit held in New Delhi, began on 2 September. The festival featured 20 films based on the way they focused on a variety of issues prevalent in the five BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
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The jury of the festival included journalist, producer and curator of film shows Francis Vogner do Reis from Brazil, Academic Secretary of the National Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences of Russia Kirill Razlogov, Professor Hou Keming from Beijing Film Academy, China, member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Xoliswa Sithole from South Africa, and Indian writer, director and actor T.S. Nagabharana.
Veteran actor Rishi Kapoor was felicitated at the opening ceremony of the film festival, representing the film fraternity. “The Indian film industry has been existing for over 100 years in which the Kapoors have contributed 88 years. This is the magic of cinema. Cinema is everything to me. It gives us opportunity to see another land, another people and their culture. Cinema is the ambassador which cuts across various barriers and builds bridges and most importantly, it entertains,” he said.
Feature Image Courtesy: HindustanTimes.com