Indian films win major awards at Asian fest

Faiza Ahmad Khan’s poignant social commentary “Supermen of Malegaon”, which chronicles the cottage film industry of Maharashtra’s communally-sensitive town Malegaon, won the Best Documentary, Best Director for Documentary awards.

It also won the Best Cinematographer/Editor award  for Shweta Venkat at the festival in Singapore.

First-timers Sriharsh Sharma Churai and Zoya S Hasan, who captivated the jury with their sensitive performance as kids caught amidst fighting parents in “For Real”, won the Best Actor and Best Actress Awards.

“For Real” shared its best screenplay award with Avantika Hari’s “Land Gold Woman”, a powerful portrayal of honour killings within the Asian Muslim community in Britain. Hari’s film also won the Foreign Correspondents Association Purple Orchid Award. Vinoo Choliparambil’s “Vitthal” won the Best Short Film award at the festival.

For this year’s competition, a total of 700 entries were received from 28 countries.