Shimla: The two day Shimla Film Festival concluded on Sunday at the historic Gaiety Theatre that was presided over by Governor Urmila Singh.
In the Himachal feature film category Dile Ch Vasya Koi was given the best film award. Produced and directed by Himachal Filmmaker Sanjeev Rattan, the film marks the triumph of love in a Himachal setting. The film has some very melodious songs. No film was given the runner up award as the jury did not find any other feature film upto the mark for it.
A feature film with over one hour of running time was categorized as a feature film. In all there were 6 feature films from Himachal Filmmakers that were entered for the festival. During the film festival three feature films Bleasru, Budha Pahad Ka and Dil Ch Vasya Koi were screened. The films were well received by a small but very appreciative audience.
In the Himachal documentary film category, the best documentary award was given to Shiva’s Abode Shirkhand Peak. The documentary made by Mayank Rajan Gupta takes the viewer through an arduous journey trek in high altitude Himalayan Mountains. The Jury has also not awarded any documentary with the runner up award.
In the Himachal short film category ‘The Bench’, an inspiring film conveying ‘never give in’ was given first prize. The short film, of a loser arousing hope in another loser to a win-win situation, was directed by Prakash Singh and Vishal Singh and produced by Stage Players and Rotaract, Waknaghat.
The runners up short Himachal feature film award was given to Beti Ek Anmol Thoofa, a film directed by Pankaj Sharma that bring out the biased attention that a girl child gets in the Indian society.
A film with less than an hour of running time was categorized as short film. In all there were 6 short films entered for the festival of which three Paradox, Beti Ek Anmol Tohfa and The Bench were screened.
Shimla Film Festival had also invited entries in the music video category and there were four music videos entered for the festival.
‘Bhole Baba’ a musical video by Himachal Filmmaker Ravinder Randhawa was given the first prize. Amma Puchadi, an animated film music video by Vikas Rana was given the runner up prize in the category. Entries in the public awareness, spot category were also invited but there were only two spot films entered in the category. The spot film on Cancer awareness was awarded the first prize.
Other than the film awards for Himachal Film Makers, the jury have also handed a special Jury award to the short film Aakhiri Munadi in the open category. The film set in Uttarakhand, depicting how the retirement day turns out to be the most memorable and professionally rewarding one is directed by Ahsan Baksh.
In all 34 films were screened at the festival of which 18 were by Himachal Filmmakers and 16 by Open Filmmaker category. From the Open Category 8 short films, 5 documentaries, one music video and two public awareness spot films were screened.
The festival also did arouse some international interest and there were three films by international filmmakers submitted for the festival. One of them was screened at the festival.
One Indian filmmaker living in USA also submitted a short film for the festival that was screened at the festival. One amateur Himachal Filmmaker living in USA submitted two music video’s of which was screened at the festival.
