FTII bags 7 awards at National Students Film Festival of India

The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) took home seven awards given away at the first National students' film awards and students' film festival organized by FTII in association with Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) of Kolkata.

As part of the celebration marking the centenary of Indian Cinema, the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune and Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata, are happy to announce the first National Students'' Film Awards and the Students' Film Festival of India.

The event was coordinated by the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune along with Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata and the Directorate of Film Festivals under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, New Delhi.

National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and SRFTI, were the other institutes that had more than one winner at the grand finale of the five-day festival that concluded on Wednesday, with cinema greats including Shabana Azmi, Sai Paranjpye, Raza Murad, Kumar Shahani and Sabu Cyril giving away trophies to the awardees.

Shabana Azmi, an alumnus of FTII said, "There is no expiry date for learning. I still apply the lessons I learnt at FTII to my acting process. Creativity is a difficult process, and this festival has allowed students to share a platform and compare their work with their contemporaries. It is all the more exciting that the festival was organized in the centenary year of Indian cinema."

FTII has won the trophies for best director (Vikrant Pawar for Kaatal) and cinematography (Amit Kumar for The Donkey Fair), among a host of others, Pola directed by Kinshuk Surjan and produced by Shrishti School of Art Design and Technology of Bangalore took home the award for the best film in the fiction category.

The other award winning films included Panchabhoot (non-fiction, SRFTI), Thug Beram (short fiction, SRFTI) and Spell Bound (animation, Reliance AIMS).

Awards were also given away in categories of art and production design, editing, sound design and audiography, script and also acting.

Noted director Sai Paranjpye too lauded the festival for being the apt way of celebrating 100 years of cinema. "The brave student film-makers gathered here will take the legacy forward in the coming years," she said.

D J Narain, director of FTII said he hoped to convert the festival into an annual affair.

Shabana Azmi, an alumnus of FTII said, "There is no expiry date for learning. I still apply the lessons I learnt at FTII to my acting process.

"Creativity is a difficult process, and this festival has allowed students to share a platform and compare their work with their contemporaries. It is all the more exciting that the festival was organized in the centenary year of Indian cinema," she said.

The five-day festival brought together students from more than 45 institutions from across the country. More than 150 film entries were received for the competition, out of which 65 were shortlisted.