FTII student Chidananda S Naik's film Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know won the first prize of La Cinef for Best Short at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, 23 May. Meanwhile, the third prize in the same category went to India's Mansi Maheshwari's for Bunnyhood.
The La Cinef awards were announced on 23 May. The first, second and third prize winners are expected to receive a grant of 15,000 euros, 11,250 euros and 7,500 euros, respectively, by Cannes.
India earlier won the La Cinef award five years ago, in 2020, when Ashmita Guha, who also comes from FTII, took home the prize for her film CatDog.
Speaking about his victory with Variety, Chidananda shared, "We had only four days. I was basically told not to make this film. It’s based on folklore from Karnataka (India). These are the stories we grew up with, so I was carrying this idea since my childhood."
Chidananda's 16-minute short film was premiered at Cannes on Tuesday, 21 May. The film was among the 18 titles which were judged by a five-member jury chaired by Belgian actor Lubna Azabal.
Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know was produced as part of FTII's year end coordinated exercise of their TV- wing. The film is directed by Chidanand, shot by Suraj Thakur, and edited by Manoj V. The film's sound is composed by Abhishek Kadam.
According to FTII, the film follows the story of an elderly woman who steals the village's rooster, which throws the community into disarray. To bring the rooster back, a prophecy is invoked, sending the old lady's family into exile."
The second prize in the La Cinef category was shared by Columbia University's Asya Segalovich's film Out of the Widow Through the Wall, and The Chaos She Left Behind, directed by Nikos Kolioukos of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
The awarded films will be screened at the Cinema du Pantheon on 3 June and at the MK2 Quai de Seine on 4 June.
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