Cannes: The 77th Cannes Film Festival saw a significant victory for India on Thursday as Chidananda S Naik's Sunflowers Were The First Ones to Know... took home the top prize at La Cinef. The Mysuru physician-turned-filmmaker took on the project at the conclusion of his one-year programme in the television department of Pune's Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). The film centres around Kannada folktale about an elderly woman who robs a rooster.
Sharing the news, FTII on their official X handle wrote: "'FTII brings big honour to India' Our Student film "Sunflowers were the first ones to know" is the winner of La Cinef Award at 77th Cannes Film Festival. Student director Chidananda S Naik received this prestigious award at Cannes on 23rd May 2024."
Bunnyhood, an animated film directed by Mansi Maheshwari, won third place in the La Cinef competition. Maheshwari, a former student of NIFT Delhi and a Meerut native, made the movie while attending the National Film and Television School in the United Kingdom. Moreover, The Chaos She Left Behind, directed by Nikos Kolioukos of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and Out of the Widow Through the Wall, helmed by Asya Segalovich of Columbia University, shared second place.
What is La Cinef?
La Cinef, a wing of Cannes, honours films submitted by film schools all around the world. This year eighteen student films were selected for La Cinef from a pool of 2,263 entries from 555 film schools worldwide. Today, at a ceremony held in the Bunuel Theatre, the 2024 La Cinef Prizes were presented by the Short Films and La Cinef Jury chaired by Lubna Azabal and consisting of Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, Paolo Moretti, Claudine Nougaret, and Vladimir Perisic.
All about Chidananda's film Sunflowers Were The First Ones to Know
The 16-minute short film Sunflowers... tells the tale of an elderly woman who steals a rooster and throws her hamlet into disarray. A prophecy is cited in order to bring the rooster back, which banishes the old lady's household. The film is helmed by Mysuru's Chidananda, who along with three of his FTII buddies made the film as his final year submission after completing one year course in the television department.
More about India-born Mansi Maheshwari's Bunnyhood
The movie is based on an actual event. Talking about the film, Maheshwari said: "I've always had trouble comprehending the motivations behind and effects of lying, so my experience with my appendix surgery was a great approach to tackle this issue. Together with the team and our writers James Davis and Anna Moore, we came up with the story. We were able to experiment with animation style and camera angles since we had a clear story arc."
According to the 25-year-old animator, Bunnyhood was the ideal platform for fusing the humour and horror genres. "The idea of the film came from the time when I was new to England and I observed the way people behaved and the white lies they shared with each other," explains Maheshwari, a native of Meerut (Uttar Pradesh) who has been studying in the UK. The movie was produced as a senior thesis for Maheshwari at the National Film and Television School in England.
The first prize winner at the Cannes Film Festival receives a reward of 15,000 euros, the runner-up receives 11,250 euros, and the third-place winner receives 7,500 euros. The selected films will have screenings on June 3 at the Cinema du Pantheon and June 4 at the MK2 Quai de Seine. Naik's first win is the country's second in the last five years. Ashmita Guha Neogi, who is also from FTII, took home the prize in 2020 for her film CatDog.
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