Swiss entry 'My Name is Salt' and the Indian film 'Placebo' shared the Golden Conch for the Best Feature length Documentary Film, while Manipuri documentary film “Phum Shang” bagged the Golden Conch Award for the Best Documentary Film (upto 60 minutes) at the 14th Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Animation and Short Films, MIFF 2016, which concluded today with a rousing finale at the Ravindr Natya Mandir.
The Governor of Maharashtra C. Vidyasagar Rao presented the award to Hao Bam Pabankumar, an alumnus of the Satyjit Ray Film & Television Institute, Kolkata, whose 52 minute long “Phum Shang”, interrogates the serious environmental problems affecting the Loktak lake,the largest fresh water lake in North East India which is characterized by an unique floating biomass, known as ‘Phumdi’, and is, alarmingly, on the verge of dying on account of unchecked human activity. The Golden Conch Award winner is richer by a cash award of Rs. 3 lakhs.
“My name is salt” is directed by Mumbai born, Zurich based Farida Pacha and traces the journey of thousands of families to the Rann of Kutch to extract the whitest salt in the world. Chandigarh based film maker Abhay Kumar’s 96 minute film “Placebo” spotlights the stress and pressure faced by medical students.
Ms Pacha goes home richer by Rs two lakh. Her film also won the Best Cinematographer award for Lutz Konermann, while Placebo won the Award for Best Editor and was also declared the Most Innovative Film in the competition section. Placebo's Abhay Kumar won Rs three lakhs with his Conch.
The coveted Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the Best Debut went to ‘Far From Home’ by Copenhagen, Denmark based film maker Nitesh Anjan.
Debanjan Nandy’s animation film ‘Chhaya’ bagged the first prize in the Animation Category of International Competition.
Mumbai filmmaker Devashish Makhija’s ‘Agli Baar’ shared the Best Short Fiction Film honours with the UK entry ‘Solo Finale’ by Ingo Putze.
The International Jury for the Festival comprised renowned documentary makers Don Askarian from Germany, Jesper Andersen from Denmark, Mathiue Roy of Canada, Siddharth Kak and Gitanjali Rao. The National Jury included Mike Pandey, Uma DaCunha, Biju Dhanapalan, Audrius Stonys (Lithuania) and Jane Yu (Taiwan)
Bollywood star Jackie Shroff was selected Brand Ambassador for MIFF 2016 which showcased over 385 films in various segments : International and National competition, MIFF Prism, Indian Premiers, Jury retrospectives, Animation and award winning films ,Student films, Children’s documentary films, North East package, FD and PSBT (Public Service Broadcasting Trust) films, homages etc.
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