The Durgapur International Film Festival (DIFF) is making its position among the film festivals of India. The festival has screened over 1,0...
The Durgapur International Film Festival (DIFF) is making its position among the film festivals of India. The festival has screened over 1,000 films from various parts of the globe in its seven seasons so far.
Started by Solis
Institute of Acting & Arts – Durgapur under the ownership of Debolina Modak
Sadhu and Tiyasha Movies – Kolkata under the ownership of Kajari Modak, for the
last two consecutive years, this event has become very popular. It started off as the Solis Short Film Festival (Durgapur). In its 3rd year, it became Durgapur
International Film Festival going on to take an international form. This year
at the 8th Durgapur International Film Festival apart from India 19 countries
including Turkey, UAE, USA, Iran, Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia,
Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Myanmar, Philippines, Greece,
Mexico, Sweden and UK participated. From more than 300 entries, 73 official
selections were screened from October 9 to 11 at Muktangan near Rash Bihari crossing.
All the judges were present at the closing ceremony on October 11 along with many artists and
technicians including Chhanda Chatterjee, Krishna Kishore, Shankar Ghosh,
Avrajit Chakraborty, Sushil Majumder’s grandson Sanjay Mishra.
The jury for the
8th season included Shila Datta, documentary filmmaker, former Film Censor
Board member, jury member for Film Festival 2014 (Indian Panorama) and
Selection committee member, MIFF Films division; Siddharth Sankar Ray (Sidhu)
singer, lyricist, composer, playback writer, and actor; Ashok Vishwanathan, award-winning director, actor, professor and dean, films at Satyajit Ray Film and
Television Institute; Hiren Bora, national award-winning stage actor turned
filmmaker, story & scriptwriter and Sabyasachi Biswas, cinematographer, filmmaker, international dramatist and writer.
A host of awards were given in the Indian category. Among them, the Life
Achievement Award went to Chhanda Chatterjee. The winner for Best Documentary Feature Film Winner was “Sushil
Majumdar The Doyen’s Journey Through Time” which was directed by Indranil
Sarkar and produced by Sanjay Mishra. The Best Feature Film winner “Grinding
Humanity” directed by Ruchin Veena Chainpuri and the Best Short Film winner
“Kameez” directed by Dhrubajit Baishya. The Best Critics Choice Film was “The
Ralapse” directed by Naren Singh Nayak and “One Step To Change” directed By
Manish Dev. The Best Debut Director was Nithya Gopala Krishnan for “Two Worlds”.
Best Actor (Male) was Vikram Dey for “One Step To Change“ and Kashyap Harsha Shangri for “The Relapse”, Best Actor (Male) Critics Choice Apratim
Chatterjee for “Termite”. The Best Silent Film was “The Life” directed By Prasun
Chatterjee. Special Appreciated Film was “Ghashir Banshi” directed by Somnath
Mondal. Best Actor (Female) was Moon Dey for “MaaTumi”; Best Actor (Female) –
Critics Choice was Leishangthem Tonthoingambi Devi for “Ripple”. The Best Music
Video winner was “Dekhechi Rupsagore” by Dibyadoot Roy Chowdhury, Best Music
Video Singer was Malabika Chakraborty
Among the winners
in the foreign category were Best Documentary “Maa” by Roma Sur from USA; Best Feature Film “Eliida” by Leon Mitchell from the USA, Best Short
Film “Zero Coordinates” by Nima Valibeigi from Iran, Best Actor (Male) Peter
Masten for
"Enter The Room" and Ali Reza
Firoozi for "Zero Coordinates"; Best Actor
(Female) Camila Arnulfi for “La Victima”.
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