The prizes were handed out by the jury panel led by art critic and journalist Sadanand Menon from India. Also on the panel were photographer, writer, curator and activist Shahidul Alam from Bangladesh, and filmmaker Sapana Sakya, who is the Public Media Director at the Center for Asian American Media.[break]
Menon spoke about the various films from South Asia that show how difficult lives are for those who live in the region. Mentioning the different subjects and themes of the films, like Manipuri Jews, an old photographer in Yangon and Afghan immigrants living in Brussels, he remarked, “All these have been the generous gifts of the festival.”
The Tareque Masud Award for Best Debut film went to Cho Phyone’s No. 62 Pansodan Street which was about those living in Lokanat Gallery Building in Yangon.
This year, the jury did things a little differently by awarding not one but two films with the QFX Jury Awards. The films Invoking Justice by Deepa Dhanraj and Are you Listening! by Kamar Ahmed Simon are about hope.
Invoking Justice is the tale of a group of Muslim women who dare to challenge the traditional male dominance and form their own council, while Are you Listening! follows a community in coastal Bangladesh after Cyclone Aila creates havoc.
Taking home the Ram Bahadur Trophy for Best Film was Algorithms by Ian McDonald. The film told the story of three talented visually impaired chess players who compete at chess championships around the world.
The festival announced and introduced a new award, UNICEF Nepal Award, which aims to honor those films that are sensitive to the issues of children and women. Before giving away the award, UNICEF Nepal’s Country Representative Hanaa Singer said, “Children’s issues are your present. If you want to be rich in the future, you have to work on those issues now. These issues should be at the core of political and artistic debates.” The award went to Char… No Man’s Island by Sourav Sarangi.
The jury also gave a special mention to No Fire Zone, Callum Macrae’s documentary of the Sri Lankan civil war, lauding the investigative spirit of the film as well as the political importance that it holds.
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