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Top prize for Taiwanese film

Prakash Kamat

PANAJI: The Taiwanese film “I Can’t Live Without You” (No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti) directed by Leon Dai and produced by Rita Chuang bagged the prestigious Golden Peacock and cash prize of Rs. 40 lakh at the 40th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) which ended on Thursday.

The film is the drama of a man driven to the end of his tether by an uncaring legal and bureaucratic system when he wants to reclaim the legal possession of his daughter. The jury hailed the film for the ‘poetic and realistic presentation of the relationship between a father and daughter.’

The 11-day film festival ended on Thursday evening with the screening of Spanish film “Broken Wings” by Pedro Almodóvar.

Earlier, Malayalam actor Mammootty was the chief guest at the closing ceremony. Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting S. Jagathrakshakan, Goa Governor S.S. Sidhu and Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat were present.

The Silver Peacock along with cash prize of Rs.15 lakh for Best Director was bagged by French-South Korean filmmaker Ounie Lecomte for her film ‘A Brand New Life’ (Yeo Haeng Ja), a film in which Lecomte recounts the emotional journey of a little girl abandoned by her father in an orphanage.

The Special Jury Award, which consists of a Silver Peacock and Rs. 15 lakh cash, went to George Ovashvili for his powerful but unsentimental storey-telling in his film ‘The Other Bank’ (Gangma Napiri), a film from Georgia/Kazakhstan in which a 12-year-old Georgian boy embarks on a dangerous mission to find his father behind enemy lines in the break-away republic of Abkhazia.

The international jury headed by noted Brazilian director João Batista de Andrade, Vic Sarin (Canada), Kenichi Okubo (Tokyo), Sarika (India) and Jean-Michel Frodon (France) selected the winners from among 15 films.

Hailing the IFFI as a platform for celebration of good cinema where Indian audiences get to see the best of world cinema and world audiences get to see the best of Indian cinema, Mr. Mammootty paid rich tributes to Indian unity amidst diversity.

“Indian films speak different languages as India is a country of diversities. We make films on different subjects, we discuss and debate different issues, but when it comes to Indian cinema, we talk only one language, that is the language of human emotions,” said the veteran film star.

Mr. Jagathrakshakan said, apart from their entertainment value, the films in India have a greater responsibility — shaping the life of the common people as people from remote places relate to the films.

He reiterated the Union government’s determination to remove anomalies in the IFFI organisation and raise it to the best in the international arena with the help of a committee of experts being set up by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.

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