2 Bangladeshi films win Kolkata World Film Festival awards

Two Bangladeshi films have won awards at the fifth World Film Festival held in Kolkata. Jaya Aar Sharmim taking the top prize in the feature film competition.

Directed by Piplu R Khan, Jaya received the Bimal Roy Golden Award for Best Feature Film. Meanwhile, filmmaker Makbul Chowdhury’s documentary Mamun: In Praise of Shadows earned a Jury Mention in the documentary category.

The Eastern India chapter of the Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI) organised the six-day festival which was held at Nandan-3 in Kolkata from September 8 to 13. The winners were announced at the closing ceremony on Sunday evening.

Producer Abu Shahed Emon expressed gratitude for the recognition in a press statement, welcoming the warm response the film received from critics, filmmakers and audiences. 

He said the award was an encouraging achievement not only for the film’s cast and crew but also for Bangladeshi cinema on the international stage.

A total of 38 films were screened at the festival, including 19 features in the competitive section. Films from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Iran, Spain, Germany, Costa Rica, Portugal, Brazil, Venezuela and Uzbekistan were featured.

India’s Assamese-language film River Tales, directed by Pankaj Bora, won the Bimal Roy Silver Award for Second Best Feature Film. Sri Lanka’s Panthram received a Jury Mention in the same category.

In the documentary competition, Ranjit Roy’s Dolls Don’t Die: Putulnama won the Harisadhan Dasgupta Golden Award for Best Documentary, while Dip Bhuan’s River Still Flows received the award for Second Best Documentary.