Take Off, a Malayalam film on the dramatic rescue of nurses from conflict-striken Iraq won two awards at the 48th International Film Festival of India, while a French film 120 BPM which takes a combative look at the generic indifference towards AIDS won the prestigious golden peacock award at a glittering ceremony in the coastal State on Tuesday.
Indian superstar Amitabh Bachchan was awarded the ‘best Indian film personality of the year’ prize, while Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan was awarded the ‘lifetime achievement in films’ award at the award ceremony held at an indoor stadium on the outskirts of the state capital, while Vivian Qu director of a Chinese film on child-sex exploitation ‘Angels Wear White’ also won a silver peacock for best director.
In a remotely recorded message, French actor Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, who also won the best actor award for ‘120 BPM’ said that it was important to speak about the crises called AIDS, which he said was needed to impact the lives of those afflicted by the disease.
“I dedicate the award to all people who are living the way, which is considered shameful. Be visible, get out, shout your pains. Try to change your reality. That’s the only way we can live. If we live in shadows, nothing good will come for ourselves,” Biscayart said.
‘Take Off’ turned out to be a powerful performer in the festival’s Indian Panorama section, winning two awards for best film which was presented to Paravathy and for best direction (Mahesh Narayanan).
The action-packed, survival-thriller is based on the evacuation of nurses from Kerala, who were stranded in Tikrit, Iraq in 2014 and were eventually airlifted from the conflict-ridden territory.
Both award winners paid a tribute to the thousands of nurses working in conflict zones.
“I dedicate this award to all nurses of Kerala and stood their ground (in Tikrit, Iraq) and with hope and conviction and got out of the dilemma they were in,” Paravathy said after receiving her award.
“These nurses should be celebrated just like our military personnel,” director Narayanan said.
Bolivian filmmaker Kiro Russo’s film ‘Viejo Calavera’ was awarded the silver peacock.
In his acceptance speech, Canadian filmmaker and the lifetime achievement award winner Atom Egoyan said that the award was an honour.
“It is a huge honour. I have always been influenced by Indian cinema and to be honoured by the country which has had a huge influence on me is a privilege,” he said. Bachchan, while accepting his award said that cinema was a great leveller and a uniter of different religions, races, colour and creed.
"I have always felt that my respect and regard for the Indian film industry has rested in the presence that the film industry has had in our world. When we sit inside a darkened hall, we never ask for caste, creed, colour or the religion of the person sitting next to us is," Bachchan said.
"Yet, we see the same film, we laugh at the same jokes, we cry at the same emotion, We sing the same songs. In this fast disintegrating world of today, where can you find such a wonderful and worthy example of unity and integration as you do in the world of cinema," he added.
The festival which kicked off on November 20, had opened with Iranian director Majid Majidi’s movie, ‘Beyond the Clouds’, while on Tuesday the festival closed with Pablo Cesar’s film ‘Thinking of Him’.
In all 192 films were screened at the festival from 28 countries, while in the Indian Panorama section screened 26 feature films and 16 non-feature films.
While the festival was tainted by the controversy surrounding Sanal Kumar Sasidharan’s film ‘S Durga’, which despite getting selected by the Indian Panorama jury, was dropped by the Union ministry for Information and Broadcasting from the festival’s screening schedule. The battle between the filmmaker and the IFFI organisers reached the doors of the Kerala High Court, which even directed the authorities to screen the film, after a special screening for the jury, but eventually the IFFI authorities managed to stall the screening of the film on the last day, ending suspense on the last very day.