Danish movie wins Golden Peacock, Assamese ‘Bridge’ sole Indian winner

Panaji: Denmark’s ‘Into the Darkness’ which portrays dilemmas of the Danish population against the backdrop of World War II took home the coveted Golden Peacock at the 51st International Film Festival of India (Iffi). Assamese film ‘Bridge’ by Kripal Kalita about the struggles of villagers living across a swelling river became the only Indian film at the 51st Iffi to win an award.
‘Bridge’ won the special mention from the jury award for bringing to life the pain of Assamese villages which face hardships due to the annual flooding.
Taiwan’s ‘The Silent Forest’ bagged two Silver Peacocks at Iffi for best director to Chen-Nien Ko and best male actor award to Tzu-Chuan Liu. The film is based on real-life events involving a hearing-impaired boy.
While most award winners accepted their prizes virtually, Iffi organisers hailed the festival as a “blueprint for others across the world to follow its hybrid format during the pandemic”.
This edition of the festival conquered all ifs and buts, said Union minister for state for environment and forests Babul Supriyo.
“Iffi is special this year. For the first time in Asia a festival has been held in hybrid mode. I am extremely proud that we could hold the festival despite the challenges thrown by the Covid-19 pandemic. It is the triumph of human spirit over disease,” said secretary for Information and Broadcasting ministry of government of India, Amit Khare. He added, “More than 60 countries participated. This was an historic effort to host Iffi this time and even those abroad are taking interest in how India held the festival.”
At the closing ceremony of the 51st Iffi, Brazilian film ‘Valentina’ which portrays the struggles of trans-gender students won its director, Cassio Pereira dos Santos the Silver Peacock for best debut film director. While Kamen Kalev from Bulgaria won the special jury award for ‘February’, the best female actor accolades went to Zofia Stafiej for her performance in the Polish film ‘I Never Cry’.
Veteran actor of Hindi and Bengali film industry Bishwajit Chatterjee received the Indian film personality of the year award.
While concluding this year’s Iffi edition, chief minister Pramod Sawant said he wants to transform the state’s image into a much-sought after destination for film shootings. “I invite all national and international filmmakers to film in Goa Our government will give all support required for film shooting,” said Sawant.
Governor for Goa and Maharashtra Bhagat Singh Koshyari said that Indian cinema has become a unifying factor not only for people from different parts of India but for all its neighbouring countries. “Cinema makes us realise that we are similar in some way or the other,” said Koshyari.
The 51st Iffi closed with the screening of the Japanese film ‘Wife of A Spy’.
Hindi film actress Zeenat Aman and Bhojpuri film star and MP Ravi Kishan were felicitated at the closing ceremony.