Manipuri documentary film Phum Shang has won the Golden Conch Award for the “Best Documentary Film” (upto 60 minutes) at the 14th Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Animation & Short Films, MIFF 2016, which ended on 3rd Feb, 2016. Swiss film My Name Is Salt and Indian entry Placebo shared the Gold Conch award for the “Best Feature length” Documentary Film.
52 miniute documentary Phum Shang, directed by Hao Bam Pabankumar an alumnus of the Satyjit Ray Film & Television Institute, Kolkatta, critically examines the serious environmental problems faced at the Loktak lake. The largest fresh water lake in North East India characterised by its unique floating biomass, known as “Phumdi”, is today considered a dying lake due to unchecked human activity. Pabankumar wins the Golden Conch Award and a cash prize of Rs. 3 lakhs.
My name Is Salt directed by Mumbai born, Zurich based Farida Pacha is a film about the journey of thousands of families to the Rann of Kutch to extract whitest salt in the world. Chandigarh based film maker Abhay Kumar’s 96 minutes film Placebo explores the stress & pressure faced by medical students.
My Name Is Salt also won the “Best Cinematographer” award for Lutz Konermann, while Placebo won the Award for “Best Editor”. Placebo was also declared the Most Innovative Film in the competition section.
Debanjan Nandy’s animation film Chhaya bagged the 1st 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.
Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the “Best Debut Film” of a Director went to Far From Home by Copenhagen, Denmark based film maker Nitesh Anjan.
List of Awards – International Competition
Golden Conch – “Best
Documentary Film” (upto 60 minutes) Phum Shang
Haobam Paban Kumar
Imphal, Manipur
Golden Conch – “Best Feature length Documentary” My Name Is Salt & Placebo Farida Pacha Zurich, Switzerland
& Abhay Kumar. Chanidgarh, India
“Most Innovative Film” Placebo Abhay Kumar,
Chandigarh, India Dada Saheb Phalke Award for “Best Debut Film” Far From Home Nitesh Anjan, Copenhagen, Denmark
“Best Animation FIlm”
Chhaya Debanjan Nandy
Mumbai, India
“Best Short Fiction Film”
Agli Baar & Solo Finale
Devashish Makhija
Mumbai, India Ingo Putze
London, UK
Key awards in National Competition
“Best Documentary” (upto 60 minutes) Famous In Amdavad
Hardik Mehta Vadodara, Gujarat
“Best Feature Length Documentary” Fire Flies In The Abyss Chandrashekhar Reddy, Bangalore, India
“Best Short Fiction Film” Alice & Last Mango Before The Monsoon Satinder Singh Bedi Chennai, India
Payal Kapadia, Mumbai, India
IDPA Award for “Best Student Film” Going Home;
Niranjankumar Kujur,
Lohardaga, Jharkhand, India
The International Jury for the Festival comprised prominent documentary makers Don Askarian from Germany, Jesper Andersen from Denmark, Mathiue Roy of Canada, Siddharth Kak & Gitanjali Rao.
Mike Pandey, Uma DaCunha, Biju Dhanapalan, Audrius Stonys (Lithuania) & Jane Yu (Taiwan) were the members of the National Jury.
MIFF 2016 showcased over 385 films under International & National competition, MIFF Prism, Indian Premiers, Jury retrospectives, Animation & award winning films, Children’s documentary films, North East package, FD & PSBT (Public Service Broadcasting Trust) films, homages et al.
