The Hindu : New Delhi News : Osian’s Cinefan declares lifetime awards

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Tuesday, May 20, 2008
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Osian’s Cinefan declares lifetime awards

Staff Reporter

Eminent film-maker Mrinal Sen bags Lifetime Achievement Award for contribution to cinema
Jose “Pete” F. Lacaba gets Aruna Vasudev lifetime award for writing on cinema

NEW DELHI: Osian’s Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema has announced the winners of its prestigious Lifetime Achievement Awards.

While the Lifetime Achievement Award for contribution to cinema, instituted this year, is being awarded to eminent film-maker Mrinal Sen, the Aruna Vasudev Lifetime Achievement Award for writing on cinema will be conferred on Jose “Pete” F. Lacaba. The awards will be presented on the tenth anniversary of the film festival here in the Capital in July.

One of the country’s most acclaimed film-makers, Mrinal Sen is a pioneer of the alternate cinema movement. The film-maker was born in 1923 at Faridpur, now in Bangladesh. After finishing his high school there, he left home to come to Calcutta as a student and studied physics at the Scottish Church College and at the University of Calcutta. He was associated with the socialist Indian People’s Theatre Association.

In a prolific career spanning almost five decades, Sen has directed feature films, short films and documentaries of varying content. His works highlight contentious social issues and his acute political understanding shows up the gifted film-maker’s analytical mind and humanist ideology. Recipient of the Padma Bhushan and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Sen has also been honoured with awards at numerous international film festivals in India and abroad.

Poet, journalist, editor, translator and screenwriter all rolled into one, Jose F. Lacaba (a.k.a. Pete) is a bilingual writer who writes in both English and Filipino. He is the author of six poetry collections in Filipino and a collection of journalistic reportage in English like “Days of Disquiet” and “Nights of Rage”.

Lacaba has written the screenplays of award-winning feature films that have been shown at various international film festivals, including Cannes, Venice and Toronto.

Prize money

This year Osian’s Cinefan has announced over Rs.1 crore in prize money for its competition sections and Lifetime Achievement Awards. The winners of the lifetime award will be presented Rs.8 lakh each.

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